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Music News

Break a leg, Dave!

Dave-Grohl-leg (image via)

The ever-endearing Dave Grohl left an audience of thousands stunned on Friday night after being hospitalised with a broken leg just two songs into a Foo Fighters show in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The frontman tumbled off stage during a rendition of ‘Monkey Wrench’, when, while laying stranded on the floor still clutching his microphone, he announced to the Ullevi Stadium crowd, “I think I just broke my leg. But you have my promise that we’re going to come back and finish this show, but right now, I’m gonna go to hospital and fix my leg!

Leaving drummer Taylor Hawkins with the reins, Grohl was whisked backstage where a team of medics bandaged him up and shipped him back on where he greeted the crowd stating, “I may not be able to walk or run but I can still play guitar and scream!

Despite Grohl’s triumph in Sweden as with the band’s post-show tweet, pictured below, UK fans remain sceptical as to whether or not this will affect performances scheduled for next weekend at Wembley Stadium and at Glastonbury Festival on June 26th.

Categories
Music News

Dave Grohl sent fan mail to Ian Mackaye

dave_grohl_ian_mackaye

Renowned equally for cataloguing and preserving every single piece of memorabilia to do with Dischord, as well as his legendary punk rock status, Ian Mackaye has today unearthed a letter he received from a 14 year-old Dave Grohl.

Pictured above, the note sees a young David reaching out to Mackaye on the whim of ‘Good Thrash’ to ask for a couple of phone numbers and a leg up. Dave tweeted it out to his 2m+ followers last night too.

Categories
Live Reviews

Foo Fighters live at the House of Vans London

The Holy Shits aka Foo Fighters
Live at the House Of Vans, London
September 11th

foo_fighters_nathangallagher

I love Dave Grohl. Mission Impossible. Scream. DC Hardcore. Dain Bramage. Nirvana. Probot. Sound City. I USED to love the Foo Fighters. When that first album came out, we were so desperate for at least some kind of continuation after the brutal, shocking end of Nirvana and Grohl made us smile again, with Pat Smear grinning beside him like a Cheshire cat and a batch of superb, high-energy melodic rock songs to win us over. That first Reading Festival set in 1995, the chaos in the tent, those great early singles…then Grohl steadily slipped into a far safer mainstream stadium/radio rock path and the excitement waned. You can’t blame him, he’s an incredibly talented melodic rock song writer but for those of us raised on 80s punk and discordant 90s noise, it was a path that just didn’t excite.

So I stopped paying attention. At least, I thought I did. If I did then how the hell do I know pretty much every song of the entire two-hour plus set they play tonight? The Foo Fighters are in town, ahead of a forthcoming release of their new album, to fire up their cylinders and get back into live touring mode with a batch of ‘intimate’ shows (playing under the name The Holy Shits!) and tonight, under the tunnels of Waterloo, they power through a set packed full of hits and you realise that yes, you know every song because they’re great.

You’d have to be a pretty joyless fucker not to enjoy this. Sure, I have no real desire to watch the Foo Fighters play in a stadium, but the chance to see them live in a venue this size couldn’t be passed up. And they don’t disappoint. For a start, the sound is incredible, an amazing achievement considering the booming acoustics of the brick tunnels, and the songs come so thick and fast, high-energy, Pat Smear still cool as fuck (he was in in THE GERMS FOR FUCKS SAKE!), Taylor Hawkins blazing on the drums (how anyone can have the nerve to play drums behind Dave Grohl, I have no idea but this guy pulls it off) and they play ‘This Is The Call’ and ‘For All The Cows’ from that first album and I fall in love with it all over again. They play all of the hits. You know them, I don’t need to list them. This is a crowd pleasing set. Nice guy Dave wants to please.

I leave smiling and sweaty. I think I just fell in love with the Foo Fighters all over again, just for the night. A one night stand.

Word: James Sherry
Ph: Nathan Gallagher

foo_fighters-houseofvans-london

Categories
Music News

Reading and Leeds festival line ups announced

The first announcement of the line up for the Reading and Leeds Festival 2012 has been isued and is as follows. The Cure headline the Friday night at Reading, Kasabian Saturday and Foo Fighters Sunday. The Maccabees, At The Drive In and Justice headline the NME/Radio One Stage at Reading and Metronomy have been announced as headliners of the Dance stage so far.

Check here for the full line up. tickets are now on sale at £197.50 for a Weekend Ticket, £85.00 Day Ticket, £60.00 Campervan *, £15.00 Locker *, £15.00 Early Bird Ticket * £5.00 Car parking*. * = no booking fee.

Reading: August 24 (Fri), Leeds: August 25 (Sat)
Main Stage

The Cure
Paramore
Bombay Bicycle Club
You Me At Six
Crystal Castles
Angels and Airwaves
Coheed and Cambria
Cancer Bats
Deaf Havana

NME/Radio 1 Stage

The Maccabees
Foster The People
The Courteeners

Reading: August 25 (Sat), Leeds: August 26 (Sun)

Main Stage

Kasabian
Florence And The Machine
The Vaccines
Enter Shikari
The Shins
Odd Future
Mystery Jets
Special Guests
Blood Red Shoes

NME/Radio 1 Stage

At The Drive-In
The Cribs
Billy Talent
Miike Snow

Dance Stage

Metronomy
Katy B
Azealia Banks
Jaguar Skills

Reading: August 26 (Sun), Leeds: August 24 (Fri)

Main Stage

Foo Fighters
The Black Keys
Kaiser Chiefs
Bullet For My Valentine
All Time Low
The Gaslight Anthem
Eagles Of Death Metal
Band Of Skulls
Pulled Apart By Horses

NME/Radio 1 Stage

Justice
Two Door Cinema Club
The Horrors
SBTRKT