I Pity the Foo'

In the infamous words of Mr. T, I do pity the foo' who missed the Foo Fighters Wasting Light tour.  I was almost that foo' myself, but  thanks to Lethbridge radio station, Rock 106, I was one of the cool kids at the sold-out Calgary show.  The contest was text4tix.  Just text foo to a certain number then they would draw for tickets.  43 texts later at $0.25 a text and I got the call from Vince and Rosie, morning show hosts, that I won tickets!!  That's right, 2 tickets to the Foo Fighters for $10.75...score!!

I grabbed my BFF, Jeannine and off to Calgary we went.  Admittedly I was a little disappointed when I found that my tickets were fucking nosebleed seats near the back of the ScotiaBank Saddledome.  Although, if it's true that you get what you pay for, I still came out way ahead...I was in the fucking building with the Foo Fighters for just over ten bucks.  As we took our seats I still looked longingly toward the floor, where I would've been...if only I could have afforded the tickets when they went on sale.  The bonus from this height was I could see the stage had somewhat of a guitar shape.  The main stage was the body of the guitar,  the neck was represented by stairs running from the main stage to a pathway running down the center of the floor and ending at a second stage - the headstock - in the soundboard pit at the back of the floor. 

I hadn't heard anything about who was opening so when I saw the Mariachi El Bronx banner over the stage, I got out my BlackBerry and started a search for Mariachi El Bronx.  I hadn't heard of them before and my search wasn't helping much either.  It was even stranger when the lead came out and started yelling at the crowd, "Hey MotherFuckers!  You ready for the Foo Fighters tonight!"  He looked and sounded like a bad ass biker and then proceeded to play mariachi music.  It was something I had never heard at a rock concert and it was fucking awesome!

But that wasn't even the real opening treat.  Fuck, Kentucky rockers Cage the Elephant came out next and proceeded to shake down the house.  Those dudes are crazy, man, and they put on one hell of a show.   I especially enjoyed  "Shake Me Down", "Back Against the Wall" and of course "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked."  The boys were amazing and although I was getting used to seat dancing...damn seats, I once again looked longingly to the floor as Matthew Shultz, lead singer, vaulted off the stage and into the crowd. 

Now, I've mentioned in previous posts how I hate sitting at a rock concert and I've also talked about how I just can't bring myself to be rude enough to stand in seats forcing those behind me to stand as well.  Well, someone up above must have taken pity on me, because the two huge guys sitting right in front of us proceeded to stand up as soon as the Foo Fighters took the stage and stayed that way throughout the whole concert....of course forcing us to stand so we could see the show.  Fucking A!  Thank you very much, you rude motherfuckers!

The Foos rocked for two solid hours without a break in a high energy show, that included Dave Grohl, lead vocalist and founder of the Foos running several times down that guitar neck of a stage to the rear stage.  Highlights included a shirtless, muscles glistening with sweat, sexy  Taylor Hawkins on drums....and a kick ass guitar battle between Dave Grohl and guitarist Chris Shiflett....sorry Dave, Chris won it.

As they varied between new songs from Wasting Light to old favorites, they definitely were playing to a receptive crowd.  I have been to a number of concerts at the Saddledome including The Who and Neil Young, yet I have never before heard Calgary make so much noise!  I thought we were loud singing along but holy fuck, the noise really started when the Foo's took their break, before coming back and encoring.

Dave Grohl and the boys are genius at keeping the crowd engaged during the encore break.  They have a camera backstage and encourage the crowd to make more noise for more songs.  We had Dave up to 4 songs when Taylor took over the negotiations.  We got him up to 6.  Dave came back out alone at first....to the fucking rear stage, to sing solo with his guitar to the bad seats.  His stage rose at least 20 feet in the air, and I finally got a half decent look at him without the aid of the big screens.

When he asked the crowd how many songs Taylor said they would do, we all answered 10.  Dave did 2 or 3 songs on his own and then the rest of the band joined him for about 4 or 5 more!  It was a fucking awesome show and 5 hours after arriving at the Saddledome we were on our way home.  I had even got over my disappointment about not being on the floor...I was just so fucking happy that I had been there for this amazing show!   I was so wired with adrenaline from dancing, singing, smiling and laughing all night, I didn't hit my bed until 9:30 the next morning.  The Foo Fighters are an amazing rock band with a lot of fucking talent, energy and great songs.  Dave Grohl is multi-talented, sexy and in my opinion the coolest fucking guy since the Fonz.  I know that dates me and I don't fucking care.  Any readers who haven't heard of the Fonz....oh, just fucking google him.........; )