Foo Fighters Close Voodoo with Epic 2.5-Hour Showcase
We already knew that the Foo Fighters were returning to perform in the cities that inspired their soon-to-be-released Sonic Highways album, but their two-and-a-half hour set to close down New Orleans' Voodoo Music Fest 2014 will be hard to top. The show was not only a career retrospective, but also an exciting demonstration of the band embracing new sounds.
Once the set began, Dave Grohl ran up to his microphone and let loose one of his signature blood-curdling screams before the Foos launched into fan favorites "All My Life" and "I'll Stick Around." That kickoff yelp might have scared the sound technicians who unfortunately had Grohl's vocals almost always too soft within the mix of three guitarists (Grohl, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear) along with Taylor Hawkins' bombastic percussion. Still, the crowd could hear Grohl's yells and shrieks clearly—and he delivered most of the songs' choruses in a similar, forceful delivery.
But for a set that covered nearly all of the Foo classics (along with what's sure to be a future classic, Sonic Highways' lead single "Something From Nothing"), the audience didn't necessarily even need all of Grohl's vocals present. When the 45-year-old rock star would tell the audience to sing along on numbers like "My Hero" and "Learn to Fly," you could actually hear everyone singing, even over the thunderous production.
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