Today marks Dave Grohl’s 53rd birthday. The beloved Foo Fighters frontman was born on January 14, 1969 in Warren, Ohio. Dave has been at the forefront of rock’s evolution over the past four decades from drumming with punk band Scream as a teenager in the late 1980s to joining grunge pioneers Nirvana and helping them record their landmark 1991 album, Nevermind, launching them to superstardom. After the tragic death of Kurt Kobain in 1994, Grohl formed a new group, Foo Fighters, who would help bring rock ‘n’ roll into the 21st century.
As one of rock’s greatest ambassadors, Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters were a natural choice to bring rock ‘n’ roll back to the World’s Most Famous Arena, Madison Square Garden, as a COVID-weary New York City emerged from the first few waves of the pandemic — thanks largely in part to the rollout of the vaccine — in early Summer 2021. On June 20, Foo Fighters performed the first full capacity concert at MSG in 467 days.
Joyous and rapturous applause cascaded down on Grohl and company as the lights came up. Dave soaked it in a bit before belting out the opening lines of a fitting “Times Like These.” The audience went nuts as the band dropped into the One By One rocker. Foo continued with “The Pretender” and classic “Learn To Fly” before getting into newer material with “No Son of Mine” and “Shame Shame,” off the band’s 2021 album Medicine At Midnight, which were split by the “The Sky is a Neighborhood” from the band’s 2017 LP Concrete and Gold.
Following “Rope” and “Run,” Dave addressed the audience for the first time, just screaming “hey!” to which the crowd enthusiastically responded. Grohl also noted, “I’d don’t think we’d be here tonight if it weren’t for a lot of people who helped us get this far. I’m not naming names…but we can sing this song.” Dave then strummed out “My Hero,” which, like many songs, took on a new meaning during the pandemic. Grohl-favorite “These Days” followed along with the title track to Medicine at Midnight and fan-favorite, “Walk.”
“God damn it this feels good,” Dave said as he conversed with the crowd once again. “I really missed the attention,” he joked before characteristically taking the attention off himself and introducing guitarist Chris Shiflett, who teased a bit of “New York, New York,” before shredding in the spotlight. Dave would also introduce the rest of the band including guitarist Pat Smear, keyboardist Rami Jaffee, bassist Nate Mendel and drummer Taylor Hawkins. It was then Hawkins’ turn in the spotlight as he came out from behind kit, with Dave jumping on the throne, to sing Queen’s “Somebody To Love” before Grohl picked his guitar back up for the classic “Monkey Wrench.”
After “Arlandria” and “Breakout,” Dave introduced another Dave, Dave Chappelle, who led Foo Fighters through a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep,” a debut for the band and highlight of the show. Other highlights in the set included the Foo favorite “All My Life” and an emotional “Best Of You” to close out the main set. Foo Fighters opened the three-song encore with Medicine’s “Making A Fire” before having a little fun on the debut of the Bee Gees “You Should Be Dancing.” The classic closer, “Everlong,” brought the historic evening to a close.
To celebrate Dave Grohl’s birthday, watch Foo Fighters bring rock back to MSG in 2021 below for this edition of Full Show Friday:
Setlist
Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden
- Times Like These
- The Pretender
- Learn to Fly
- No Son of Mine
- The Sky Is a Neighborhood
- Shame Shame
- Rope
- Run
- My Hero
- These Days
- Medicine at Midnight
- Walk
- Somebody to Love
- Monkey Wrench
- Arlandria
- Breakout
- Creep
- All My Life
- Aurora
- This Is a Call
- Best of You
Encore
- Making a Fire
- You Should Be Dancing
- Everlong
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