Lucky for me, I was studying abroad in London for the entire year last year, and the Foo Fighters are a band that I'd always wanted to see live. I remember their tour with Weezer was like a dream come true but I was going to be in London when they came to Boston. So Foo Fighters in Hyde Park?! Talk about perfect. Of course, tickets were damn expensive, especially if you wanted to be in the "Golden Circle." After months and months of draining my life savings in the form of pounds sterling to the British economy, it didn't seem like the brightest idea. Not that I haven't spent exorbitant amounts of money on a concert before... Much to my relief, the band somewhat surprisingly announced another concert - to be held in Manchester, in Northern England, at a Cricket Field. So obviously I decided to make a trip out of it and ordered tickets for me and my friend Kathleen. Amazing.
I was actually at Hyde Park during the concert because it was in the last weeks of my time in London, when I had finished exams and my friends and I spent all day every day playing and exploring the city. It was uncomfortably hot and I could hear the concert from the other side of the (ginormous) park; I was glad not to be a part of that crowd and was freakin excited for the Manchester gig, which was the next day.
On June 18, 2006, also Father's Day, Kathleen and I took a 5 hour bus from London to Manchester, checked into our hotel, and headed to Old Trafford, the cricket grounds. Manchester was a comparatively more intimate gig than Hyde Park's 80,000 but I'd guess there had to have been at least 30,000 at the concert that day. The opening acts included the Subways, Angels and Airwaves (to fulfill the needs of the emo hipsters, and ironically the only set during which it rained), and the STROKES! swoon. And I'll admit Fabs Moretti is not a very good drummer, but let's face it. If you've made the decision to smoke a cigarette hands-free whilst drumming then you're pretty damn rockstar.
I was in the middle of the field during all the opening acts but after being groped by a drunken middle-aged man (at British concerts they don't limit the beer they sell. It's also real beer. Served in real-sized cups.) and being smushed amid sweaty bodies to the point of suffocation and panic, Kathleen and I moved towards the side near the front, along a rail, which was much safer but also a much better view (being 5'2" doesn't help in those situations). The Foo came on. And my life was changed.
Dave Grohl has amazing showmanship and really connected with the crowd. The effects were awesome. The setlist was amazing. Everlong was the FREAKING ENCORE. FOLLOWED BY FREAKING FIREWORKS. The whole experience was so... hard to put into words. During the crowd favorites I would look out into the crowd and it was just an endless sea of people with their hands in the air jumping up and down - it really gave me goosebumps and I'll never forget it. It was really the rockingest concert I've ever been to and that I'll probably ever go to.
Here are some of the photos I took at the rockingest concert of my life.
A clip of "Best of You"
yeah my camera sucked at capturing audio once the bass kicked in and drowned everything out.
the best encore ever - Dave walks out onto the catwalk into the audience and plays "Everlong" acoustic but towards the climax gets back onto the stage to rock out the ending with the rest of the band as fireworks go off above the stadium.
So how did Manchester compare to the Hyde Park gig?
Here's a clip compilation from the concert (uploaded by a guy whose cameraphone has the most amazing audio quality ever.) - Dave talks about how we, the Manchester audience, compared to Hyde Park at about 1:56.
When Dave said that the crowd (obviously) ate it up and I thought it was just typical concert-speak. But after the Manchester gig, the fan boards were abuzz with talk of the superiority of Manchester to London...
"Yeah the crowd at Hyde Park were a bit dense but then it was a very long day in the blazing sun, much drink was consumed. Manchester crowd however were well up for it, but I always find Manchester a great atmosphere regardless what concert or artists are playing."
"It was tongue in cheek (is anything he does NOT tongue in cheek?), but my impression was that more of the Manchester crowd were big Foo fans and going mental, rather than simply polite applause from the Hyde Park crowd."
"It wasn't the band that sucked at HP, it was the crowd.
The Manchester audience shit all over them"
"Hyde park was cool for shake your blood, and tie your mother down - but based just on the foo's performance i'd say manchester was the better one. The crowd seemed better in manchester, so there was a better atmosphere! "
"I went to both.
And Manchester was better by far."
The crowd was wild and rowdy, the band rocked, Dave was playful, the set included some of my favorite Foo tunes like "All My Life," "Up in Arms," "Generator," "Breakout," "My Hero," and in particular "Everlong," Taylor proved why he is arguably one of the best drummers out there, and he played and sang for "Cold Day in the Sun"... it was all in all a phenomenal concert experience. Worth every penny/pound/dollar. If watching one of your favorite bands live in another country with tens of thousands of people happily clapping in very Euro 4-4 time doesn't put a smile on your face then I don't know what will. All I know is that concert left me buzzed for months. Actually even now I still get goosebumps when I think about it. Thanks, God, for that amazing experience.
[from www.foofighters.com]
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June 19, 2006 - A Letter From Dave
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Just a quick note to say thank you for the greatest week this band has ever had. For real. From the Isle of Wight, to the acoustic gigs, to the Underworld sweatbox, to the mind bending Hyde Park party and Fathers Day in Manchester, it was definately the highest of highs for these four lads. I'm still buzzing from it.
From the bottom of my heart, I'd like to thank each and every one of you. You've given me some of the best memories of my life. I only hope that we can do the same in return.
See you soon,
Dave
1 comment:
jealousy!
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