Biffy Clyro opened the triple-bill but we skipped their set and got our beers full and bladders empty while checking out the merch table and such. Nothing against the band, but I'm really not a fan and I'd heard the Foos play a near 2 1/2 hour long set, so we figured that was plenty of rock for an evening really.
But there was no way I was going to miss Motorhead. All these years and I'd never seen them live, despite once meeting and sharing some beers with frontman Lenny Kilmister at The Rainbow in Hollywood. The band is legendary and you know what you're going to get from them every show. They blasted through (quite loudly) "Ace of Spades," "Iron Fist," "Killed by Death," "Metropolis," and "Eat The Rich" plus a few others from the latest CD. All the guys in the band look like they could be tearing up a nursing home any day now really, but once they start playing I sort of got the feeling they may never really get old. Loud, solid set from a real metal god.
So then it's time for Foo Fighters and Dave screams "These are my famous last words!!" as they blast into their first song, also the first song on the new CD. In fact, 4 of the first 7 songs are from the new CD and the set was heavy on it. Here's a bit of a set rundown with notes, as far as I can remember (and read from the entries on my Blackberry)...
* Bridge Burning
* Rope
* The Pretender
* My Hero
* Learn to Fly
* White Limo
* Arlandria
* Breakout
* Cold Day in the Sun (with Taylor Hawkins on lead vocals)
* I'll Stick Around
* Stacked Actors
* Taylor Drum solo *
* Hey, Johnny Park!
* Monkey Wrench
* Let It Die
* Generator
* Walk
* Shake Your Blood (Probot cover with Lemmy on vocals)
* This is a Call
* All My Life
* Encore break *
* Long Road to Ruin (only Dave acoustic back at soundboard on a small stage)
* Best of You (see above)
* Times Like These (see above, then Daves joins the band on stage and rocks)
* Young Man Blues (The Who cover)
* Miss The Misery
* Schools Out (Alice Cooper)
* For All The Cows
* Skin and Bones
* Tie Your Mother Down (Queen cover, Taylor vocals)
* Everlong
Whew! Hell yeah, they play a LONG set, but the thing is I can still think of some tracks I'd have liked to have heard... like "DOA," "Resolve," and "Cheer Up Boys (Your Make-up Is Running)" plus others. These guys have such a catalog of songs to pick from and yet they still throw some fun covers. Lemmy did come out with them for the Probot cover, which was awesome and heavy as hell, and they do the covers by The Who, Queen and Alice Cooper. That's a rock n roll show my friend.
No big fancy stage show to speak of either, missing the huge TV screen you see usually now and just a modest light show. The star is Dave Grohl far and away. The guy is just limitless energy as he screams, bangs his head, chews his gum, shreds his guitar and runs back and forth down a catwalk that leads to a stage by the soundboard. The only time he chills out is for the songs right after the encore break that he performs solo on acoustic guitar, and actually it wasn't as much solo as him and 8,000 or so people singing back-up with him. Pretty awesome. Dave Grohl craps more rock n roll than most so called "rock stars" will see in their entire careers. The guy sneezes rock n roll riffs.
The bottom line is this... the Foo Fighters give you your hard earned money's worth. All the attitude, music and energy you could ask for in an evening from one of the best bands of the last decade plus.
Here's 3 awesome pictures of the show from Verizon Arena's Facebook page:
