#drew hester

[darling-chris]

Stevie Nicks live for Fireaid LA, Jan. 31st, 2025

with her band & girls Sharon Celani & Marilyn Martin

[greensparty]

My Concert History: Foo Fighters

If you can’t tell, I’m super excited about seeing Foo Fighters at Fenway Park this weekend. To celebrate, I thought I’d look back at the concerts I’ve attended. Can you tell I’m a fan:

- WBCN River Rave 6/8/1997 @ Great Woods (Mansfield, MA)

I didn’t catch any of Foo Fighters’ shows in 1995-96, but I wasn’t going to miss out when The Colour and the Shape was released. Taylor Hawkins had just joined the band, and it was a few months before Pat Smear left the band. The WBCN River Rave also featured Matthew Sweet, Morphine, Fiona Apple, Porno for Pyros, Primus, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Moby just to name a few. Their set was mostly the songs off the first 2 albums. One of the highlights of the festival!

- HMV Records 11/1/1999 @ HMV (New York, NY)

Me meeting Dave Grohl at their HMV in-store

Chris Shiflett had just joined the band. When There is Nothing Left to Lose was released, they did promotional blitz in NYC that included an in-store appearance at HMV. My ex-GF and I traveled down from MA to NYC for this. The band performed for about 40 min. mostly off the new album. Then the band signed copies of the new album and I got to meet them (read all about it here).

- WBCN Xmas Rave 12/1/1999 @ Orpheum Theater (Boston, MA)

Only a month after I got to meet the band, I saw them at the WBCN Xmas Rave, which also featured At the Drive-In and Ben Harper. They played about 13 songs, mostly hits and new album. Great show!

- 4/2/2000 @ Mullins Center (Amherst, MA)

They co-headlined a tour with Red Hot Chili Peppers (my first time seeing RHCP) with opening act Muse. Drove out to UMass Amherst to see this show. It was really cool to see the Foo Fighters in a much bigger venue, a preview of some of the arenas I’d see them in later. RHCP drummer Chad Smith came out and joined them on a second drum kit for “My Hero”.

- 7/3/2003 @ Hammerstein Ballroom (New York, NY)

Dave Grohl at the Hammerstein Ballroom show

Even though the band in retrospect isn’t a fan of their 2002 album One By One, its one of my favorites. Promoting the album, the band played 2 shows at Hammerstein with openers My Morning Jacket and Pete Yorn. They did quite a bit of the One By One album and during “Everlong”, a fan apparently proposed during that song!?! 

- Fuse TV Special 6/14/2005 @ Fuse TV studios (New York, NY)

“No Way Back” from Fuse’s Seventh Avenue Drop

Technically this is not a concert I saw, but I’ll explain why it made the list. I was working at the music video cable TV channel Fuse in 2005 just as the double album In Your Honor had been released. The band was doing a promotional blitz in NYC and stopped by Fuse to do a live performance 7th Avenue Drop show. I tried to go down to see them, but even as an employee and knowing so many people, I wasn’t able to go to the studio due to the capacity limit. But my friend who was working there, managed to get Dave Grohl’s guitar pick for me! 

- 10/14/2005 @ Continental Airlines Arena (Rutherford, NJ)

Queen’s Roger Taylor at drums with Chris Shiflett on guitar

My girlfriend (who became my wife) and two friends made the trek to NJ to see this co-headlining tour with Weezer and opening act Hot Hot Heat. This was a fantastic show, but the big highlight of the night was when they brought out special guest Roger Taylor of Queen, who played drums on the cover of “Tie Your Mother Down”, which Taylor Hawkins sang on. So much for  “Never Meet Your Idols”! 

- 8/21/2006 @ Beacon Theater (New York, NY)

The band at Beacon Theater

The following year they went on an intimate acoustic tour of theaters. I went to the Beacon Theater show with Frank Black (of The Pixies) opening. Further musicians they brought on this tour included Rami Jaffee (who became an official member in 2017), Petra Haden, Drew Hester and returning Foo Fighter Pat Smear, who officially returned as a member in 2010. It was almost like an episode of Storytellers as Dave Grohl talked about some of the songs and their meaning. Very special show!

- 2/19/2008 @ Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)

The show opener “Let It Die” at MSG

After the release of Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, the band began playing much larger venues. At this MSG show, Serj Tankian (of System of a Down) and Against Me! opened. Some of the additional musicians who played the 2006 acoustic tour came out for an acoustic section of the show that included the very first Triangle solo in MSG history from their percussionist. 

- 11/13/2011 @ Madison Square Garden (New York, NY)

Foo Fighters and Joan Jett doing “Bad Reputation” at MSG

By the time of 2011′s album Wasting Light, Pat Smear was back as an official band member. For their NYC show at MSG, the openers were The Joy Formidable and Social Distortion. They brought out a few special guests: Bob Mould of Husker Du played on “Dear Rosemary” and “Breakdown” (the Tom Petty song); and Joan Jett came out and did her song “Bad Reputation” with the band. The band also did Pink Floyd’s “In the Flesh”.

- 7/19/2015 @ Fenway Park (Boston, MA)

Grohl on his throne performing at Fenway Park

After the 2014 album and HBO series Sonic Highways, I hoped Boston would be an upcoming episode / recording. While on tour to promote the album, just a few weeks earlier, Dave Grohl broke his leg onstage, so for the remainder of the tour he performed on a throne. Even if he was sitting the whole time, it was one hell of a show (read my concert review here). Openers were Royal Blood and Dropkick Murphys. Highlights of the show included Grohl’s surgeon Dr. Lew Schon, who came out and sang The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” with the band; a brief cover of The Cars’ “Let’s Go”; a cover of Queen and David Bowie’s “Under Pressure”, and Godsmack’s Sully Erna joining for Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out”. 

In addition to all of these shows I recounted, I also saw Dave Grohl with Them Crooken Vultures in 2009 and Taylor Hawkins with the Coattail Riders in 2006 and 2010.

[notesonnewyork]

Do not turn...away my friend...like a willow...I can bend...

-----

(With Stevie Nicks at the Prudential Center. Photographs by Riff Chorusriff. April 2, 2017....

After finishing “Stand Back,” Nicks interrupted the show. The late Prince Rogers Nelson was on her mind. While she clung to a scarf tied around her mic, a single spotlight stilled the auditorium. She still couldn’t believe he was gone. When she feels nervous before a performance, she admitted that she often calls on him to be with her. And he is. 

Nicks met Prince at a party in 1979 where she regretted advising him to be more social. She was grateful he didn’t mention it years later when she had to get in touch with him. Would he mind listening to something she just recorded in the studio? Prince said sure, he'd be right over. As fate would have it, he was only 20 minutes away.

After hearing his “Little Red Corvette” on the radio, Nicks was so inspired she substituted her own lyrics and composed a whole new song. She played it for him. Prince thought it was great. He even added some synth to the verses and a guitar part in the middle--the finishing touches to what became track six on her “Wild Heart” album: “Stand Back.” An hour later, she walked him to his car. As she recalled, it was an appropriately hued purple Camaro. 

Over the years, they grew closer. Prince used to call her up when he was worried about her. They’d speak for hours. In the midst of Nicks’ well-chronicled drug addiction, he was there for her. She wishes she could have been there for him too. Continuing to tug at another scarf, she asked the audience to do her a favor. Whenever spinning “Stand Back” or “Little Red Corvette” in the future, notice how they dovetail. And, most importantly, remember her friend.

When she resumed the concert with “Edge of Seventeen,” Nicks honored Prince with a slideshow. It rendered him floating across the stage again like a white-winged dove. The whole thing was bittersweet and transcendent. I snapped the images above from the tribute.)

[mrrightandmrbubble]

Loveride ‘08

[notesonnewyork]

It was my fault, my move, my game If I’d known a little more, I’d a run away It was dark out and I held the cards I was the dealer and it wasn’t hard

-----

[With Stevie Nicks at the Prudential Center. Photographs by Riff Chorusriff. April 2, 2017....

I’ve been watching Nicks perform since 2003 and each time I’m reminded of three things. One, she somehow continues to renew that tremulous upper octave of her voice that for years was unreachable. When she strives for a note from that arsenal now she really rings it. 

Two, her unraveling delivery of “Gold Dust Woman” never fails to assert itself as one of the most affecting moments in rock theater. You can’t miss it. Whether her character’s gradual exorcism is encouraged by the jarring sonics of Lindsey Buckingham or Waddy Wachtel, she always goes through with it. 

And, three, the kindness she extends to her fans is given with an unparalleled authenticity. It’s the hearth from which her behind-the-music stories spark, her bashfully repeated “thank-you-all-for-comings” arise, and her music keeps on warming you long after the glitter fades. 

Nicks’ setlist for the night was Gold and Braid, If Anyone Falls, Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (with Chrissie Hynde), Belle Fleur, Gypsy (Fleetwood Mac), Wild Heart, Bella Donna, Enchanted, New Orleans, Starshine, Moonlight, Stand Back, Crying in the Night (Buckingham/Nicks), If You Were My Love (Fleetwood outtake originally from Mirage), Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood),  Edge of Seventeen, Rhiannon (Fleetwood), and Landslide (Fleetwood).]

[notesonnewyork]

Still through the sunlight days I wait Track a ghost through the fog--sun is burnin’ me--and You come runnin’ out in the wind with me The ocean is your blanket

-----

(With Stevie Nicks at the Prudential Center. Photographs by Riff Chorusriff. April 2, 2017.)

[mrrightandmrbubble]

[mrrightandmrbubble]