In addition to being the unofficial spokesman for all things rock and roll, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl is also the self-appointed chief of the rock militia, policing the rock scene to make sure everyone sticks with the program.
The latest item on his agenda is “new” bands who play short sets… or at least, sets that aren’t as long as those of Foo Fighters, who famously play mammoth-length sets that last somewhere around the three-hour mark.
As Consequence of Sound reports, during a recent performance in Calgary, Grohl took aim at bands who aren’t up to the Herculean task of entertaining arena-sized crowds for three hours at a time with a setlist of 25 or so rock radio classics.
“You don’t want one of those little hour and a half long shows do you?” Grohl told the Canadian audience. “You don’t want that shit. All of those new bands that play those little two-hour concerts, you don’t want that shit.”
“Two hours and 15, I don’t think is enough. Two and a half hours, does that sound okay? That’s not enough is it? Here’s our fucking problem.”
“We’ve been a band for 20 fucking years, we have a lot of fucking songs, and then add my big mouth on top of that, and we’re going to be here all night.”
Indeed, according to Setlist.fm, Foo Fighters’ 13th August show in Calgary comprised a setlist of some 21 Foos classics, kicking off with ‘Everlong’ and included the first performance of ‘Wind Up’ since 2007 and a cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Miss You’.
While we’re always on board for an epic Dave Grohl rant, it’s probably worth remembering that most “new bands” don’t have a 20-year discography under their belts and will find it a little to turn their debut EP or even LP into a three-hour concert extravaganza.
