Foo Fighters Milton Keynes Bowl 06-09-15



So rescheduled and to make up for the Wembley shows in June being cancelled due to Dave Grohl's stage fall and subsequent leg break we set off for the Milton Keynes Bowl for the first time in 22 years since the Metallica and Megadeth show.

We weren't going to the Wembley shows as we were unable to get a ticket so in a way happy to be going through Dave's misfortune!!

As we arrived on a gloriously sunny September day Royal Blood were just starting their set and I will be honest I know very little about them apart from them seemingly being the next UK big thing with a 2015 Brit Award for best British group tucked under their belts.


For a 2 piece with Michael Kerr on bass and vocals and Ben Thatcher on drums they made quite a racket and went down very well with the huge crowd.For me quite modern with a fuzzed up bass sound and I suppose the best compliment I can give them is I would check them out again.

Iggy Pop was next up and one to tick off my list to say I have seen him but with a near hour set it felt way longer.Vocally poor and after a while his stage histrionics slightly over the top for me only "Lust For Life" was ok and the last song lumbered on for what seemed like months and he left to mild indifference.

Not the Foo Fighters though.Greeted like returning kings the capacity crowd roared their approval as Dave Grohl appeared on his guitar and light framed throne (thanks for the free throne key rings being handed out as we arrived) and his leg break seems to have made him even more popular.

For just over 2 hours we were treated to a Foo Fighters greatest hits set that covered their entire career and here is what they played.

All My Life
Times Like These
Learn To Fly
Something From Nothing
The Pretender
Up In Arms
Congregation
Walk
Cold Day In The Sun
My Hero
White Limo
Arlandia
Outside
Breakout
Hey Johnny Park
These Days
This Is A Call
Best Of You 
Everlong

I will be honest and say I never expected to see anyone from Nirvana live in my life as I really detested them but Dave Grohl is now a world wide superstar and even with a leg still in a cast the man is a star!!



He rocked out all evening with his broken leg firmly anchored to the stage but that didn't stop the other leg from being continually bounced up and down and with hair flailing wildly he still put on a show.The throne even moved down the walkway giving the crowd a close up glimpse of him even if as it moved along it did look like a Dalek!!

The rest of the band all play their part musically but have little stage presence just getting on with their job.Nate Mendel on bass and Rami Jaffee on keys ably back up the others although Rami was very low in the mix.The legendary Pat Smear on guitar spends the entire show bobbing back and forward with a huge grin on his face surveying the huge crowd and thinking what a great job he has!!Chris Shiflett on guitar riffs all day long and on his short solo spot,as Dave is announcing all of the band members,he shows off a mean solo and for me just a bit sad we don't see more of that.
At the back well to the right hand side as the crow fly's is Taylor Hawkins on drums who is quite superb.He powers the band along with a healthy dose of crowd presence too and his vocal spot on Cold Day In The Sun shows a very decent set of vocal chords too.His banter with Dave throughout the evening shows a great friendship too.

Highlights included all of it really.The crowd singing on every chorus and some of it all of the verses too was a joy to watch and hear and when Dave asked for everyone's mobile phones to light up the Bowl well it looked like a Christmas tree.

It was stadium rock at it's finest with a huge light show and back stage led screens projecting too everyone of the 65000 present.Whether you were at the front or right at the very top of the Bowl you all had a front row vantage point!!

Dave was the perfect host.He apologised early about his leg break and the cancellation of the Wembley shows but then joked it was all a marketing ploy to make more money on the Broken Leg tour and with the t shirt being on most backs at the show he was probably right!!

He said with a grin he wasn't too upset at missing Wembley as he had played it before but he was rather narked at missing Glastonbury!!

No encores just the longest show they can play and as the last note of Everlong rang out we all saluted the current Kings of stadium rock and I can at last say I have seen them!!









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