The Foo Fighters – Live at The City of Manchester Stadium - 06.02.08

Posted by Rob Samuels on 06.07.2008

The Foo Fighters rolled into town on Monday 2nd June to dazzle the masses with a monster setlist.

The Foo Fighters – Live at The City of Manchester Stadium 06/02/2008



Apologies for the late report on the gig, I was there on Monday night and had to stay over in Manchester – and by stay over I mean drink until the first bus came the next morning. By the time I got around to writing this I forgot the intricacies of the setlist. (i.e. in which order they played the songs) Basically this report may be somewhat sketchy – but fuck it, I tried.

Having grabbed a last minute ticket, I jumped the train and headed to Manchester complete with two bearded alcoholics and the token hot chick of the group – alas these are the people I call my friends. Anyway after drinking in a packed Manchester pub for a few hours, we began our Pilgrimage to the near 50,000 capacity City of Manchester Stadium. To my despair it wasn’t the brief stroll I expected, but we got there in the end.

Like every good drunk should do we immediately headed to the bar to purchase an overpriced plastic cup of Fosters. (£3.50 for a pint of Australian Piss is outrageous). The seats were in the nosebleeds, but hey I got the tickets late in the day so it’s hard to complain too much. We were greeted by the support act which was none other than The Manic Street Preachers. The Welshmen put on a great show, running through their hits in a high-energy manner, warming the crown up nicely. Frankly the Manics are probably big enough to play such a venue on their own merits, but their presence was a welcome addition here.

Eventually the Foo’s took the stage to a huge ovation – the stands were surprisingly full, and the entire pitch was taken up by swarming fans – I would guess there were in excess of 60,000 people there easily. The Foo Fighters comprised of the usual four piece, along with former member Pat Smear on rhythm guitar. Accompanying the band were a number of session players including a percussionist, a keyboard player and a rather attractive girl playing strings. The previous two times I saw the Foo Fighters, they were playing as a basic four piece so I was excited at the potential of seeing what they could do with the extra performers on stage.

The band wasted no time, immediately launching into their setlist with trademark energy and passion. Grohl took full advantage of the large stage early on, pacing up and down much to the delight of the lucky bastards at the front. They played about six back-to-back songs starting with ‘The Pretender’ without so much as a break to say “Thanks” to the crowd. When they did eventually stop playing it was for Dave Grohl to serenade the audience. I’ve never heard people respond so positively to being called ‘Motherfuckers’ before, but they lapped it up. It was quite clear that Grohl had had a few tipples in the back, because he was rambling like your Great Uncle at Christmas, a typical quote would be “How many you Motherfuckers been seeing us before, well where the rest of you motherfuckers been… (Incomprehensible ramble)… you fucking motherfuckers.” Yeah.

But I wasn’t complaining, because in his drunken madness they decided to play a monster of a setlist. Including a thirty-minute version of ‘Stacked Actors’, which featured an extended ten-minute drum solo, a guitar-off between Grohl and Chris Shiflett. To say it reminded me of a Led Zeppelin ‘Dazed and Confused’ session would be an obvious comparison, but it was thoroughly enjoyable nonetheless. Throughout the evening they moved seamlessly between songs, giving the fans hits from all their albums. About an hour and a half into the set, Grohl paused to introduce the band with each musician giving us a sample of their solo skills, except Nate Mendell because “no one wants to hear a bass solo” according to Grohl. Poor Nate, I know your pain – I’m a bassist too. Even the percussionist got to perform a triangle solo (seriously). Good Times. The obligatory encore contained a few more classics before the Foo Fighters wrapped it all up with ‘Best of You’.

The 411: It was a really fun set overall - performed with energy, passion and dashes of improvisation. The additions of the session players added a great deal of depth to the sound, which I for one enjoyed. If you haven’t seen the Foo Fighters before I’d recommend getting a ticket next time they’re in town.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]