I want to like the Foo Fighters, I really do. Since Nirvana, Dave Grohl has always come off as a really likeable guy for a rock megastar with a gift for catchy hooks and big rock choruses. But about a half hour was all I needed before the Foos’ songs started running together, and the band’s flying hair and rock poses started to look like watching a few friends play Rock Band on the easy setting.
The band’s grimy take on The Who’s “Young Man Blues” was a surprising treat, a nice contrast to the polished versions of songs I could do without hearing again for the rest of my life, like “Learn To Fly.” But it was also a reminder that Dave is no Roger Daltrey as a frontman, and that Taylor Hawkins is no Dave Grohl, let alone Keith Moon, as a drummer.
Maybe it was just cumulative exhaustion that made the set seem so dull, but when the band’s second best drummer started into a solo, I decided it was time to start the long, long hike back to my cheapskate free parking. – Jesse Hughey
