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8351934
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# Foo Fighters, Wembley Arena, review
## Dave Grohl and his band lacked the bad guy edge, but the fans were
adoring. Rating: * * *
![Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters have gone No1 in the album charts replacing
Adele][1]
Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters have gone No1 in the album charts replacing
Adele
By [Tim Burrows][2] 10:28AM GMT 28 Feb 2011
[Comments][3]
Wall of amps? Check! Three guitarists? Check! Topless, longhaired drummer
named Taylor? Check! That Foo Fighters are one of the biggest rock bands
around is not in doubt. Dave Grohl was recent recipient of the Godlike Genius
trophy at the NME Awards (the magazine put on this gig) and despite its loose
definition of genius -- past winners include Ozzy Osbourne, Ian Brown and
Shaun Ryder -- he came on stage for his first gig in two years visibly pumped
up in obligatory black.
The souvenir magazine hammered home Grohl's reputation as rock's "nice guy".
It must be a strange role to fit into, in a tradition where idols such as
Osbourne thrived on the notion that they were, well, bad.
One particularly bad boy was Kurt Cobain, singer in Nirvana, the band in which
Grohl rose to fame. While comparisons between the two bands subsided some time
ago with the release of Foo Fighters' 1997 smash _The Colour and the Shape_,
you can't help thinking, while watching Grohl shake his straggly, sweaty hair
in front of his face, that here is Cobain's alter ego: brown haired, smilier,
without the testing lyrics -- the Cobain that learnt to stop worrying and
embraced the industry.
Not that a perceived lack of edge seemed to bother the thousands that turned
up: full of glee (and some, lager), roaring lyrics to favourites such as
_Times Like These_ and _Monkey Wrench_, jumping around and increasing the
arena's humidity. The grand old shed seems to suit big rock concerts better
than the more modern O2, and the place rattled and throbbed to the volume. But
Foo Fighters' appeal is summed up by their signature tune, _Everlong_, a song
that displays a sensitivity and textural depth that could not quite make the
transition to this former Olympic swimming pool. Songs such as the new single,
_White Limo_, from the forthcoming album _Wasting Light_, cut through in terms
of noise, but lost some of their nuances.
"There goes my hero - he's ordinary!" the crowd bellowed at Grohl during _My
Hero_, adoring fans declaring their admiration for a man who is, seemingly, so
much like them. That's the beauty of this particular illusion. When he told
the crowd that he had recorded the new album in his garage, it drew a cheer,
but you imagined his idea of a garage involved luxuriously upholstered
furniture and a full mixing desk, not spare car parts and old tins of paint.
## Related Articles
* [Dave Grohl interview][4]
18 Apr 2011
* [Radiohead: King of Limbs - track by track review][5]
18 Feb 2011
* [Roger Taylor remembers rehearsing with Queen in 1975][6]
26 Feb 2011
* [Liam Gallagher: 'adored by millions'][7]
23 Feb 2011
* [Radiohead's wet weekend music][8]
25 Feb 2011
* [Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique; Cloptre, CD review][9]
25 Feb 2011
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