Photograph by Ian D. Hall

Originally published by L.S. Media. July 2nd 2011.

As the sun descended over the top of the stage and temporarily blinded the majority of the crowd at the packed out Milton Keynes Bowl, the Foo Fighters exploded onto the stage and gave one of the great performances of the summer and indeed of the year so far.

After already thrilling the Isle of Wight festival goers a few weeks ago, there really was only one way to top what some critics called spectacular and that was by stealing your own show and adding just that little bit of sparkle to a set list that would make the audience sit up, take notice and beg for the band not to stop playing no matter what the curfew time stated.

Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, Nate Mendel and the newly reinstated band member Pat Smear gave the 70,000 plus fans an evening of high octane, wonderful self indulgence and pure musical theatre as they opened the night with Bridge Burning and Rope from the garage written Wasting Light Album.

As vocalist and guitar player Dave Grohl was to point out later in the show, what the audience heard that night, every bum note, every misplaced lyric was just the band, there was no computer at the back making sure the band gave this top performance, it was all down to the group and the instruments they were playing that gave the packed and sweaty Milton Keynes Bowl audience the delight and good memories.

There can’t have been many members of the audience that didn’t go away happy as the band played songs from a long and varied career and even had some insane surprises up their sleeves as first they introduced Queen’s drummer and hero to many Roger Taylor to the cheering crowd. Roger jammed hard with the band on the song Cold Day in the Sun and the crowd had the added bonus of usual drummer Taylor Hawkins come out front and do the vocals. There are not many bands that can have three singing drummers on stage at the same time.

More hits followed into the long night, including Learn to Fly, Long Road to Ruin, Monkey Wrench and the stunning Let it Die.

The evening got cooler but the intensity on stage never once abated and it’s to the credit of the band that they are so well regarded by their peers that they can even get a guest star of the stature of Alice Cooper to join them on stage and perform his massive hit School’s Out. The reaction of the crowd only enforces the view that the Foo Fighters can rightly be regarded as one of the top stadium bands of the current era.

The band were going to do this two nights on the trot, even the thought of watching something as exciting, heart pounding and intense as this for one night would be enough for some, to the Foo Fighters, it’s nothing more than fun topped with a big bucket full of pleasure.

5 stars

Ian D. Hall