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FOO FIGHTERS At The Ottawa Bluesfest By Andrew Depedro, Ottawa Corespondent Thursday, July 20, 2023 @ 11:31 AM
If my unofficial title as KNAC.COM's Ottawa Bluesfest volunteer for the 14th year running has shown me anything this year while I'm either directing traffic or serving a beer, it would be the following based on past shifts I'd worked at:
Mid-90's Montreal pop clubbers BRAN VAN 3000 are actually a two-hit wonder band, having pondered if they'd be playing a 25-minute long version of their erstwhile 1997 hit "Drinking In LA". I'd honestly forgotten that they were still in existence beyond 2001 when I was at a karaoke bar about a year ago and took the stage to belt out "Wango Tango". The song that preceded my ode to the Nuge? The aforementioned ode to tubthumping on the Sunset Strip. And turns out that their warm-up music before hitting the stage is the entire CHILLIWACK catalogue in the same way that IRON MAIDEN warm up their shows by playing "Doctor Doctor" by UFO over the PA. Still didn't recognize the other songs BRAN VAN 3000 played that same afternoon though.
Twin sister act TEGAN & SARA are tied with having the second longest on-stage banter I've ever heard somewhere between when Phil Anselmo from DOWN was commenting on someone's CELTIC FROST T-shirt during their opening slot for HEAVEN & HELL back in 2007 and when STEEL PANTHER were trying to introduce "17 Girls In A Row" last November but were short a few female participants. That, and that TEGAN & SARA have been a band for 25 years - and that they still look 25.
And on the subject of triumphant accomplishments at this year's Bluesfest? The night's headliners the FOO FIGHTERS back on the road and back at the festival since the untimely passing of longstanding member/drummer Taylor Hawkins last year. It would explain why there had been lineups for the show starting since noon that day when organizers encouraged all attendees to arrive early as the concert was expected to sell out. And everyone complied - perhaps to a fault as lineups began swelling by about 2 PM. "To get there early is on time/To get there on time is late" as Dave Mustaine had once quoted, but even for those who'd arrived an hour before the show and brought no knapsacks or bags, thus sparing an extra visit from security personnel, the lineup was still surprisingly touch and go in terms of efficiency and speed.
"We have two hours to play 150 songs - two hours is a short set for us!"
So was the battle cry proclaimed by scraggly-haired frontman Dave Grohl as he put forth the challenge to the festival's organizers once the FOO FIGHTERS opened with three enthusiastic versions of "All My Life", "The Pretender" and "Walk" - even starting the show a half hour early so as to make good on his promise. He cut a hearty untethered rock 'n roll pose which echoed parts '89 Hetfield, '87 Billy Duffy and '76 Nugent with his plain-clothes jeans and T-shirt ensemble as he went through at least three '67 Gibson guitars throughout the show. And with a group of stellar musicians backing him at the night's show, among them his longtime colleague/axeman Pat Smear, bassist Nate Mendel, guitarist Chris Shiflett, keyboardist Rami Jaffee and recent addition Josh Freese on drums, Grohl was determined to honor his claim of playing 150 songs in 2 hours come city bylaw noise complaint officers or high water. And one clever way of doing so was introducing the rest of the band through choice songs. For example, Nate's intro song was "Sabotage". Chris' was "Enter Sandman". Pat's intro was "Whip It" which was mostly based on both his and Dave Grohl's mutual bonding over the work of legendary 80's avant-garde outsiders DEVO. Rami's intro was "March Of The Pigs" which was a rather eclectic choice given how his playing style harkens more towards 70's prog rock such as KING CRIMSON. And, finally, Josh's intro music was...er..."Haven't Met You Yet" by Canuck smooth pop crooner Michael Buble - which, as it turns out, was a song he played drums on, so that checks out in case there's any suspicion about him being subjected to Jason Newsted levels of pranking.
Thanks once again to the Ottawa Bluesfest organizers for making this show and this festival happen and to the Bluesfest community for helping me locate and borrow some pics from the show to use.
https://foofighters.com
Setlist:
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The famous photo of the wheelchair-bound concertgoer being literally propelled up and carried towards the front of the stage (which happened at an ARCH ENEMY festival concert in Spain about 11 years ago) was re-enacted during BILLY TALENT's performance. I hadn't seen it as I was working at the Bike Park at the time, but I'm told by all accounts that it was a magical moment. I think I'm Facebook friends with the guy too.
Songwise, while the casual fan in me would've been fine with an inclusion of heavier KNAC.COM playlist faves such as "Wind-Up", "White Limo" or "Waiting On A War" somewhere in that setlist, karaoke can fulfill that demand for me as the band has about 100+ songs available for that purpose, while their Bluesfest setlist also fulfilled a similar demand. With their most recent studio album But Here We Are being their first album since Taylor's passing, one would assume that FF were probably working through the pain of the loss of their most notable colleague a bit too soon, with the songs sounding as such. Surprisingly, new cuts such as "Rescued" and "Under You" were the sounds of both a band maturing and its harshest critics being proven wrong. Moreso, a heartening duet featuring Dave's eldest daughter Violet on two songs - "Shame Shame" and "Show Me How", the latter written for Dave's late mother - was the other solemn performance of the night before it was followed by "Aurora" from There Is Nothing Left To Lose, which Grohl introduced as Taylor's favorite FF song as he played it in his honor. Closing out the night were the crowd-pleasing numbers "Best Of You" and "Everlong" as the FOO FIGHTERS just inched a few minutes past the closing time of 11 PM, their promise to keep playing "'til they kick us off the stage"otherwise satisfying many fans that night. Taylor's eternal absence remained noted for the many FF faithful at the show that evening, but here we were celebrating a rock concert as well as his life and lifeblood he put into both the band and the genre overall.