Early this year, Big Concerts announced that Foo Fighters would be playing two shows in South Africa in December 2014. Since then I have been counting down the days till that day finally arrived on the 13th of December 2014.
We arrived at Aandklas around 11 AM on the day, in time to catch the Highfive Partybus (a safe and fun transport option which has been transporting music fans to and from music festivals and concerts for the last few years) with about 400 other people. Around 12 noon no less than 8 buses filled with excited Foo Fighters fans embarked on +/- 70 km journey to Johannesburg.
Before you could say “pisscat” we reached our halfway destination (Thatcher’s Pub in Fourways). The Barbosa Experience got us into the mood for the show, squeezing an odd Foo Fighters cover in now and then, to keep those excitement juices (and the Jose Cuervo shots) flowing. We finally left the venue around 4:30 PM and arrived at FNB Stadium around 5:30 PM.
Getting into the stadium didn’t prove to be much of a hassle and we were already amped, ready and waiting in the Golden Circle area a half an hour before BLK JKS started playing their set. I didn’t pay attention while they were playing, but I did end up taking an epic selfie with @MattBlackZA and @slkaye.
Kaiser Chiefs made their way onto the stage next and I was quite blown away by lead singer Ricky Wilson’s energy. He ran around the stage, got acrobatic on the sound desk and set the atmosphere for what would become an epic evening of live music.
Here’s my review of Foo Fighters at FNB Stadium
Finally it was time for the Foo Fighters to play. 50,000 people cheered loudly as Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, Nate Mendel, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee made their way onto the stage and immediately got the crowd rocking out to “All My Life”.
Some drunk dude tried to box with a bloke in a spot close to us in the Golden Circle (West Side), but the rock loving crowd simply pushed him out of the way… If this isn’t proof that the majority of the crowd were there for the music, I don’t know what is.
The rest of their set included rock anthems like “The Pretender”, “Learn to Fly”, “Breakout”, “My Hero”, “Monkey Wrench”, “I’ll Stick Around” and 3 three songs of their brand new “Sonic Highways” record: “In the Clear”, “Congregation” and “Something from Nothing”. Besides this they also pulled out other favorites like “Times Like These”, “Wheels”, “Walk”, “Best of You” and “Big Me”. They also played a Queen cover (“Under Pressure”) and a Cheap Trick cover (which had Dave Grohl playing drums).
To be honest, I was completely blown away. I don’t think I’ve ever been to such an epic rock show. Dave Grohl’s chirpy personality just made things more epic and hearing 50,000 people singing along while the band were playing “Best of You” just made the evening more memorable.
Sadly I did not have access to photograph them, but Christelle Duvenage did. All the photos on this post (apart from the crowd shot below) were taken by her.
Kudos to Big Concerts for bringing the Foo Fighters to SA for the first time. Huge thanks to Highfive Partybus for getting us there and back in one piece. I really hope these blokes come back and maybe play a show in Pretoria (instead of Johannesburg).
What did you think of the Foo Fighters show at FNB stadium? Were you blown away or did you experience it as an average evening out. Leave a comment and let me know.
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