Foo Fighters get loud and rock Moda Center in Portland, OR

Just days before, Foo Fighters canceled two shows in Canada after singer Dave Grohl lost his voice during the show in Seattle. That gave us a scare, but when the band hit the stage at the Moda Center in Portland, OR, Grohl gave out his customary “Are you ready?” scream and the show exploded with no issues whatsoever.

Opening up with the hit “All My Life” from the band’s 2002 album One By One was interesting. “Learn to Fly” was up next, then the band got heavy with an extended version of “Pretender” from the 2007 album Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Before the song, Grohl poured a second cup of water over his head then proceeded to the front of the stage to headbang as the band cranked it up. It sounded great and got the crowd rocking.

“Rope” from the incredible 2011 release Wasting Light was excellent, with a new jam over the bridge that led straight into an thunderous drum solo by Taylor Hawkins. As the solo began, his drums were slowly raised high and when finished, he took the vocals high in the air for “Sunday Rain”, perhaps the best song on the Foo Fighters new album Concrete and Gold. Although his voice was a little scratchy, the band sounded great. “These Days” and “Walk” from Wasting Light came up soon after and sounded huge. The floor was bouncing and the near capacity crowd rocked along with many fists in the air.

During band introductions, singer Dave Grohl called out a guy in the crowd with a Dead Moon shirt on. Impressed by the guy’s taste in Portland punk rock, Grohl egged on guitarist Chris Shiflett to give the guy some guitar shredding. Shiflett abided, hamming it up real nice on his Gibson Les Paul while the audience screamed and laughed on.

“Run”, the first single off of Concrete and Gold, was the best song played all night. It went from quiet to loud and extremely heavy and the entire arena at Moda Center was moving. The verses of that song crunched hard with Grohl’s voice not sounding strained at all. “Breakout” was also excellent, with an extended bridge where the band jammed out for several minutes.

Foo Fighters finished the night by encoring with three covers including Tom Petty’s “Breakdown” before ending with their biggest hit “Everlong”. You never know what you’re going to get at a Foo Fighters concert. On this night at the Moda Center, Foo Fighters put on an ear ringing and excellent show and I can’t wait to see them again.

Foo Fighters will be playing Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, MN on Thursday, October 18, 2018. For those lucky enough to get tickets, see you there!

The Joy Formidable