Foo Fighters
Milton Keynes Bowl
02/07/2011

Dave Grohl may be staring at 70,000 screaming Foo Fighters fans, strewn across a muddy bowl and hanging on his every word, but he’s not a man who’s comfortable with the role of scene-stealing frontman.

Perhaps it’s a niggling bugbear from his early days as an oft-overlooked sticksman, but tonight the bearded wonder is keen to ensure there’s an even spread of talent onstage – and a fair amount waiting in the wings, too. ‘Dear Rosemary’ sees the introduction of Husker Du legend Bob Mould sharing vocal duties, while Taylor Hawkins follows in Grohl’s well-trodden footsteps from drum stool to centre stage for ‘Cold Day In The Sun’, and a gloriously raucous cover of Seasick Steve’s ‘Back In The Doghouse’ is bolstered by Seasick himself, along with Led Zep bassist Paul Jones.

But there’s a good reason for Grohl’s willingness to share his moment in the sunset – that even the second coming of that other bearded Messiah would fail to overshadow the hero-worship levelled at Grohl and his band. Some fifteen years has passed since the Foos dropped their first album into the hands of an eager public, and perhaps it’s a measure of the band’s constant reinvention that the reaction to breakthrough track ‘Monkey Wrench’ is somewhat muted in comparison to the thumping ‘White Limo’ or the positively euphoric ‘Best Of You’.

Of course, as has become the norm for shows of this size, Grohl’s stage is extended by a jutting runway into the crowd and he covers every inch he’s afforded – sprinting to the sound-desk as the setting sun heralded the onset of Foo Fighters’ now famous laser show. “We used to suck, now we’re RAD!” screams Grohl as Milton Keynes reverberates to his grumbling distortion pedal. It’s a rare moment of self-congratulation from the frontman, but on tonight’s performance, it’s long overdue.

Matt Glass