Foo Fighters

Of course, the Foo Fighters have been performing to vast crowds in Britain for a number of years now, and Grohl recognises that, mentioning the various V and Reading events that his band have topped, not to mention a massive shindig at Hyde Park a couple of years ago. And, despite how easily and grandly the band handle their massive stage after years of practice, this show feels like true vindication. The name and pull of the newly-built grand-old stadium it seems, is as strong as ever.

Unfortunately, the age-old problems remain too; the first hour sees the traditional murky sound ensue as, regardless of how hard guitars are pounded on the likes of opener ‘The Pretender’ and ‘Learn To Fly’, the vast crowd and erring acoustics swallow any precision or clarity mercilessly. Of course, this usually matters little to the non-judgemental ear; stadium shows are about the experience and the crowd lap up every “come on!” and more commonly, “arrghhhh!” uttered by the frontman as if he was the first person to bellow those words from 50 feet high.

Eventually, the sound pulls through and the band continue to pulverise their way through enough hit singles to put Elvis to shame. The likes of ‘Break Out’ and ‘My Hero’ are greeted like pop jukebox classics and it’s the 75,000 present that help to make the event seem like a home-from-homecoming. It all comes to a head when, as night falls, the quartet burn through an ecstatic ‘Monkey Wrench’ and a lacerating ‘All My Life’ that sounds for that moment, like true hard rock nirvana. When Grohl pauses towards the end of set closer, ‘Best Of You’, and hearing it passionately bellowed back by the crowd, he seems completely overcome by emotion and gratitude and you feel the moment truly has eclipsed the man; you can almost see twenty years of graft, sweat and tears rushing through his head, at once exonerating and justifying. It’s hard not to be touched, and impossible to deny the moment’s magnificence. There is no man in rock, as they say, more deserving. Tonight, it’s inarguable.