Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10

A place and a time that must come to us all, how we confront it, how we deal with the emotion, how we move on as they have faded, it is up to us. Some rage in the dying of the light, some accept that the world needs to change, and a few, a daring and persuasive few, will play with melancholy and reason, they will charm and conspire with the memory and produce, not tears, but a flood of recalls, reminisces, and recollections that collide fiercely and with beauty installed into every drop of feeling within what will become art.

But Here We Are, four words that accompany the melancholic, that strides with purpose as the fingers point at the map signalling loss and confusion of a passing, but with sheer determination to create a musical Eden out of the barrenness felt of the passing of a fellow traveller, a brother, a legend who held the key to many of the adventures already won.

To lose Taylor Hawkins was a blow for the fan, but for the Foo Fighters, for each one of them who worked alongside him, who were enthralled by his genius on the skins and cymbals, it was a moment that maybe, arguably, they suspected deep down would take more will than they could muster to perform as a group again. But Here We Are, the map was not empty, but it has been redrawn from memory, with attention, with the powerful long-lasting spells of respect, admiration, grief, and love all leaving their mark like a cardinal compass point on a piece of parchment.

For Dave Grohl. Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee, just walking into the studio again must have been a thought filled with trepidation, and no one would have blamed them if at the end of it instead of producing one of the finest and succinct albums of their collective careers, they had shook hands and occasionally got back together along the road as anniversaries and necessity played their part…no one at all would have had anything but praise for them.

But here we are…

And what an album it is, not rousing, but gut wrenchingly honest, this is an album born out of truth, out of sadness, out of memory, all that is said and played, sung and caught for prosperity is with Taylor Hawkins in mind, and it is the beauty of sadness that prevails as songs such as the opener Rescued, the illuminating and brilliant Hearing Voices, Nothing At All, Beyond Me, Teacher, and Rest leave their mark on the hearts of band and listener alike.

Raw, emotional, memorable, a display of conscious dedication, this is the Foo Fighters at their natural best, and it is with honour that Taylor Hawkins has played his part one last time. Simply awesome.

Ian D. Hall