RDGLDGRN
TROMBONE SHORTY
JOAN JETT
GARY CLARK JR.
HEART
LL COOL J
BUDDY GUY
TROUBLE FUNK
ALL OPENING FOR THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOO FIGHTERS
RFK STADIUM JULY 2015
As most may know Dave is from the DC area and he did an album and series called Sonic Highways. All the artists represented came from the series and his love of local music.
RDGLDGRN (Red Gold Green) is a DC funk/punk band that Dave played drums for when they recorded at his studio. They got some folks moving their feet with some interesting rhythms although funk-rap lyrics were not my favorite.
Trombone Shorty surprised everyone by not only doing a cover of Green Day's Brain Stew but doing it on a trumpet! He put on quite a show with his Trombone too> I swear there were times the slide only had one or two millimeters holding it in.
Joan Jett hit the stage and I did my best to get her attention, She probably told security to keep an eye on me. A set of a quick run through of the hits including The Runaways "Cherry Bomb" may have been cut short by a few minutes because of the storm warnings - hard to say. Anyway the show was delayed for 90 minutes and the storm front knocked down the temp for a while.
Gary Clark Jr. restarted the show with Bright Lights and a tour de force of modern blues guitar. It was enough to get the field almost completely full again
Heart - After 40 years Ann and Nancy Wilson know how to put on a show. Starting with Crazy on You and ending with Barracuda and at least a half dozen hits in the middle they had the audience singing and dancing.
LL Cool J came up next and was to me, surprisingly popular. You could almost hear the steel stand groan from the RFK bounce as thousands of people were jumping to Mama Said Knock You Out which was the only song of his I knew.
Buddy Guy opened his set with “Damn Right I Got The Blues" which included a snippet of Jimi's Purple Haze and then went into Feels like Rain using a drumstick to do his solos on the Guitar. He brought out Quinn the kid he was touring with and did a pretty fierce rendition of Strange Brew. Toss in a couple of Blues standards and it was a pretty good set,
Trouble Funk has been around since about '77 playing a unique to DC style of music called "Go-Go" Extremely popular in the black clubs around DC and Baltimore meant that this transplanted white boy wouldn't know Go-Go if it ran me over. However, there were some in the crowd who did have a clue and they seemed to be having a pretty good time.
The curtain comes down, the video screens turn on showing clip of the opening acts from Sonic Highways' Every time the curtain moves the crowd cheers until the defining scream of Dave Grohl kicks things off. Up go the curtins and out wheels Dave on the Foo Fighters Throne. Not even Dave's broken leg is going to stop this show. the set starts off wuth “Everlong,” “Monkey Wrench,” and, ”The Pretender.” before Dave addresses the crowd showing video of him falling off the stage in Sweden and his hand drawn design of the throne. The music started up again with partial covers of "Under Pressure", "Owner of a Lonely Heart" and "Another One Bites The Dust" leading into "Walk" with Dave making some comments in the middle of the song about learning to walk again. A little acoustic break with "My Hero" and "Times Like These" led into a ferocious rendition of “All My Life,” and “This Is A Call.” finishing the show on "The Best Of You".
Everyone, at some point in their life needs to see a show like this in whatever genre you choose.