Last night the Foo Fighters expanded their North American Tour kingdom to Canada. In the first of two shows in Toronto, Ontario, Dave Grohl sat upon a guitar- and spotlight-laden throne as he reasserted himself as a modern monarch of Rock and Roll.
Just under a month ago while performing in Sweden, Grohl made a dash for the front of the stage during “Monkey Wrench.” He tripped, stumbled, then fell 12 feet to the ground below. When he tried to stand up, he collapsed. In his own words describing the event in an open letter, “That s*** was B-R-O-K-E.” The letter continued by apologizing to fans hoping to see the Foo Fighters perform at one of the following five European shows that then needed to be cancelled.
Grohl was determined to get back up on stage. Just over three weeks after the incident, Dave was back and performing a 4th of July concert in his home country of the USA. The big story was not simply his return to the stage, but the way in which he did it: atop a glowing industrial throne of metal, guitars, and laser lights.
Expanding their kingdom to Canada last night, the Foo Fighters played a full set lasting nearly three hours at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre in Toronto, Ontario. Although his movement was restricted to his mighty throne, the throne itself was not content to stay still. By the second song, the chair moved forward right into the middle of the pit of roaring fans. It moved back to center stage shortly after, but returned back into the audience a few more times during the concert.
It was difficult for Grohl to stay seated and he pleaded with everyone to dance in his stead. His cast escaped its holster more than once. At one point he hopped out of his throne, and hobbled to the front of the stage accompanied by guitarists Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear for a couple songs. His rendition of “My Hero” also rendered one of his crutches useless. Even dancing while seated, the rock icon managed to break one of the crutches so that his guitar backup needed to help him back to his throne.
His usual wit was also in full force as he covered the story of his break, complete with the gut-wrenching footage on the big screen behind him. Another story told about a gig in Toronto while he was in his teens, made mention of “Night Drive,” and told us about his love for Toronto through a chance encounter with Iggy Pop at the Horseshoe Tavern while Grohl was still young in his career.
It was a one-of-a-kind show. Grohl lost no momentum from his usual performance, and the Guitar Throne only added to how epic and memorable this concert series will be.
Great Show! The Covers were fantastic! btw did he say Stompin Tom “Collins”?
Blame the Tylenol-3’s 🙂
What time did they go on last night?
The Foo Fighters went on at 8:30 and played until after 11pm. Royal Blood was the opener and started almost right after 7pm.
If you haven’t heard already, be aware that you won’t be able to cross the CNE grounds to get to Ontario Place if you’re taking transit because of the PanAm Games. You need to get off the streetcar at Strachan Ave., walk south to Lakeshore, cross to the south side and walk along the path. As with any concert, just follow the crowd.
Great shots Stephen! LGG4?
Yes, I took the shots with the same LG G4 I reviewed last month ( http://geekdad.com/2015/06/lg-g4-dads-review/ ). Most of the photos were taken in manual mode, so I was able to reduce glare and set the focus for a sharp image.
Spoiler Alert!
Covers of Tom Sawyer and Cinnamon Girl were cool nod to The North!
Great pictures Steven, I wish I was that close last night! It was one of (if not THE) best shows I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen almost every Foo show in T.O. Dave picking Aurora to play absolutely made my night – the original recording has had too many guitar parts to be able to play live until Pat Smear (who looked a gitty fun-loving boy last night) rejoined the band in full capacity a few years ago.
For those looking for it, the setlist from last night was:
Everlong
Monkey Wrench
Learn To Fly
Something From Nothing
The Pretender
Big Me
Congregation
Walk
(Rush) Tom Sawyer
Cold Day In The Sun
My Hero
Times Like These
(Queen) Under Pressure
All my life
One Of These Days
Outside
Breakout
Alandria
Neil Young – Cinnamon Girl
This Is Your Call
(The Faces) Stay With Me
Aurora
Best Of You
This is my second FF concert and to be honest wasn’t not a good good one. I’m sorry but Grohl should take a break a recover properly. The only reason he still doing it is because they can’t afford keep loosing more money. They should be honest with their Fans an cancel the remains shows until he get back to walk.
Only Dave Grohl would perform with a broken leg! What a way to do it though, with the most badass guitar chair known to exist.