Righto...

So I heard Foo Fighters were coming to town and having been a fan since 1996 and appreciating how far Dave Grohl and his merry men have come, I thought it'd be great to see their own show again (that isn't part of a festival).

Apart from having almost completely sold out (which is agonising in itself considering Dave Grohls view of 'shlock-lock bands' of the early 90s - same sort of bands like Nickelback and the rest of that shiite), the general energy in the crowd was pretty pathetic.

Being in the lounge area (mosh pit), I was blown away to see girls dressed in high heels, short skirts...almost as if they've just come from a Beyonce concert. Similarly, there were a tonne of blokes there with the gelled hair, polo shirts with the collars up, ripped jeans and loafers. Some would say that (the former at least) would be awesome. But for some reason it bothered me...partly because:

- There were very few people who actually knew their older songs - the colour and the shape, the debut 'gun' album - which I consider to be their best albums.
- These girls and guys were almost dancing to them as if they were in a club dancing to JT
- The same people were commenting to each other, what the **** is this, when an unreleased song was played...especially the older songs
- The same people were BOOING some of the support acts including a triple j favourite 'The Mess Hall' plus an unbelievable guitarist that goes by the name of Kaki King.
- It was a sold out concert - meaning that people that actually enjoy THE MUSIC and the energy of the band as opposed to only responding to songs that are played on commercial radio could not get tickets.
- Dave Grohl carrying on like a celebrity
- Beachballs with NOVA printed all over them thrown around
- Absolutely no energy in the mosh pit...I prefer being next to the sound desk anyway.

In other words, a completely sold out concert - in the attitude sense.

I know I shouldn't really worry about it...bands are here to spread the love, make a little money (or a lot)...but I can't help but feel that commercialism of music ruins it, not only by attracting guicci wearing snobs to a rock concert, but influencing the direction the band is heading - especially in the Foos case. Going from almost thrash in the mid 90s to power pop.

I reckon there should be a boycott of NOVA...bring back the MUSIC! Real music that is.

By the way, the Burswood Dome yet again proves it's a piece of **** venue.

RANT OVER!

corporate rock sucks..Frank Zappa.

i agree Kiterdan

I was there in the lounge as well and noticed the same thing heaps of crew looking like the were waiting for the bus

Ive seen them 3 times before i was lucky to have seen them play Metropolis city when they first started will never forget it unreal night unreal crowd

Did laugh once when i saw them play at the belvoir ampiphare and some chick asked us to sit down cause she couldn't see we told here not to politely that she was at a rock concert and may be she should watch it at home on DVD with a cup hot of Milo.

I do envy my wife she saw them play in a pub in Vienna in 1996 in front of about 100 people she reckons at one stage there were only about 30 of them on the dance floor. She only went cause it was advertised as Dave Grohl from Nirvana

But all in all i still had a great night showing the young ones how to enjoy them selves

If only I was old enough to go their first concert at the Planet in 96/97? My brother went and from the youtube footage I've seen, I reckon their earlier concerts would have unbelievable.

I blame NOVA and people like Kyle Sandilands for ruining music and getting stoked on anything not polished as all hell.

Pretty Harsh call about the Burswood being **** venue Dan. Normally I would agree, in the past the sound has been terrible. On this occasion I may have got lucky with seats in a spot where the sound was much better than in the mosh pit perhaps.

Kaki King is like you say awesome on the guitar. Although the highlight for me was Taylor Hawkins solo on the drums, he could possibly be the next Dave Grohl. The triangle solo was a bit unusual

I remember in 96 when I went to the concert in metro city, Dave was a one man band hiring muso's as he went round. The show started with two drum kits, Dave kicked arse over the other drummer in a jam, he then picked up his guitar and showed the guitarist how it's done. Once he had proven that he could play both instruments better than those guy's, he grabbed the mic and put on a show no different to last Monday night.

I'm not overly fussed with the new music, but when the old stuff come on I couldn't help but get out my seat.

Also you mention "Nova" well I was speaking to a guy on the train after losing all my money at the Cas, he said he had tickets to the after party nova put on, it was the most pathetic thing he's ever seen. Everyone got a beer each...LOL wouldn't you spew.

Personally I enjoyed it, But I also understand alot of what your saying

WINDY MILLER said...

gazza the groupy....which concert aint u been to


have to catch up for a few swift ones soon at Mcerz,,....if i'm allowed out.....

Funny i was thinking that today

Allowed out your always allowed out, might go down sat as the other halfs going to the rugby i'll give you a call.... the chilli mussles on sat are awesome!!!!

I'd rather watch a band with people around me that appreciate music - not just the hits. Besides which, I reckon concerts with only a few hundred people are the best!
Secondly, it's not the bogans I worry about - it's the influence of commericalism on music + what direction the Foos have decided to take. Even Pat Smear was there! And he quit the FF after the release of their second album because he didn't like their direction. Plus, most of the crowd looked like they were going to a JT concert! There were even blokes doing bog laps with 50 cent turned up after! What a joke.
Thirdly, unless you're a true fan of music - appreciating it as an artform as well as entertainment - you'd never compare Dave Grohl to the lead singer of the power-pop shiite off-spring dribble out. Listen to their first 2 albums.
Lastly, lack of numbers at Foo Fighters concert if only true fans went?! What a load of toss! Go listen JT!

Anyway, it's not just the Foos...it's music in general. Commercial radio stations have too much influence on the direction of music...they take away the stoke of real music to make a dollar. Massive record companies have too much of an influence on the direction of music too.
It's been around for ages though...but I suppose I was just disappointed cause I'd never thought the Foos would go the direction they have....especially seeing where they've come from.

Not all msucians create music to be famous or millionaires.
Nirvana never set out to make a massive name for themselves. Cobain topped himself because he couldn't handle fame, money etc.
Pixies definietly weren't in it for fame and fortune.
Radiohead never set out to make a massive name for themselves either. They've changed their sound ten-fold since their second album and have released multiple records without actually releasing a single off the album.
The sex pistols never produced an album that was commercially driven.
There are thousands of bands that are the same!

Note all the bands above produced/are producing music that is different - a new sound. If they wanted to be popular, they probably would have written early 90's RnB or pop rock and music today would extremely different...probably extremely boring. They write all their own music & lyrics which in my mind sets them automatically a cut above the rest.

Look at 'artists' like Pink or Shannon Noll - they don't even write their own lyrics let alone music! Sure it's catchy and so popular, but how is that in any way an art form? How does it express THEIR feelings?! The only talent they've got is that they can sing!!

Commerical radio stations play the new 'popular' music cause they're paid to by record companies. In other words, the record companies make a small investment. After that, the stations play the music over and over to make money (as the band has since been glorified for record sales) and the process steam rolls ahead.

It doesn't mean that I don't enjoy pop music! But, to me, it seems that music as an artform only exists outside of commerical stations.

Yep I think it's time a clean sweep of the whole industry came along - ala Dave's 1st band Nirvy sumpin? Remember how Nevermind single-handedly wiped the slate clean (briefly before designer flannys popped up on every wanabe in a 3 piece band).

Swings n roundabouts and like flairs you just have to wait for the good cycle to come back again.

I could be wrong on this, but in times of economic bliss the tunes are shinola due to the fact that everybody is just getting loaded, chasing silicone bimbos, drivin fk off big SUVs and generaly not giving a turge about much else! When the going gets tough the tunes get tougher/better/funkier because folks start to need artistic/creative nourishment.

Give it time grasshopper..


BTW I wasn't saying the FFs are like Offspring just that Dexter has the exact vocal sound (SM57 and phasing/delay effect) in all their songs. DG sounds better than Dexy but samey samey in nearly all the FFs tunes to me. I think he probably uses a gtr fuzz pedal acrross his vocal?

Also BTW one of the 1st large concerts I ever worked on was Sumersault (Freo Oval 95/96? - memory a bit hazy after that week ) Beastie Boys headlined, Beck , Sonic Youth and Fooies etc on board. I was very impressed that Dave the very recogniseable lanky streak o' p!ss, unlike 80% of the acts, spent most of the day striding around in the front of house punter area, instead of holed up in the VIP backstage area waiting to be felated by cronies. The dude actually likes music and checked out the other acts as a punter rather than posing side of stage as is the norm.

Anyway you really do have to question why a band would get in bed with Nova/MMM etc and play a venue like that? I'm with you pardner, other than BDO and 'many-bands-in-one-day-gigs' I stay clear of big concerts.. No vibe, no love and if I hear "It's great to be here in ....insert name of city/town..." I will flip out!!

Anyhoo - it's only RnR but I like it...

kiterdan said...


The sex pistols never produced an album that was commercially driven.

what the? the sex pistols were all about commercialism. that was the whole point.