 A friend tags along with the Foo Fighters
"Bet you didn't expect that to happen, now, did you?" asked Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, after introducing a surprise guest at his band's Friday night concert at the Continental Airlines Arena: Queen drummer Roger Taylor.
Frankly, no. But Grohl and Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins are on the record as being huge Queen fans, having inducted the classic-rock group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001. Hawkins said at the time that they pulled every string they could to give that speech, and that when it came to Queen, "I'm less a fan than a stalker."
Taylor, in town for the Queen + Paul Rodgers show that took place Sunday at the Meadowlands, sat in with the band on its first encore: a suitably frenzied version of one of the most hard-edged songs in the Queen catalog, "Tie Your Mother Down."
Hawkins sang, after noting that the first band he ever saw in concert, at the age of 10, was Queen. "I owe it all to Roger," he said.
It was a feel-good moment in a feel-good show. The arena was packed, and the band played solid versions of its best-known songs while de-emphasizing its uneven, new two-CD set, "In Your Honor." Despite Grohl's impeccable grunge-rock credentials (he played drums in Nirvana), he came off like an eager-to-please showman, racing around the venue's floor during "Stacked Actors," leaping onto the drum riser during "Best of You," and frequently encouraging the crowd to make more noise.
A laser light show added to show-biz vibe, and Grohl seemed unusually garrulous between songs, at times echoing the comically over-the-top enthusiasm of the folk-metal duo Tenacious D. (Grohl is a big fan of them, too, having played on their self-titled 2001 album.)
Yet when the band was playing, Grohl was all business. Songs like "DOA," "Breakout" and "The One" had a convincing punk edge, and "Everlong," which started as a slow, moody solo number and ended as a full-band raveup, was a masterpiece of sustained intensity. Hawkins' first vocal showcase, "Cold Day In the Sun," was a bit shaky, but he redeemed himself with a commanding performance on "Tie Your Mother Down."
Co-headliners Weezer, who played for just a few minutes less than Foo Fighters (75 minutes instead of 85), followed a similar strategy when putting together their setlist, dutifully playing their best-known material while occasionally mixing in songs from their most recent album, "Make Believe."
Songs like "Say It Ain't So" and "My Name Is Jonas" had some heavy-metal crunch to them, while "Don't Let Go," "Why Bother?" and "Buddy Holly" were ingeniously catchy. Frontman Rivers Cuomo played "Island in the Sun" solo, in the middle of the arena.
While Grohl has a small number of subjects he tends to favor as a songwriter -- regret, seething anger, all-out rage -- Cuomo was more versatile and enigmatic. "Beverly Hills" allowed him to both make fun of the beautiful people and express his desire to join them. Songs like "Hash Pipe" and "Surf Wax America" went by in a feverish blur, but listening to the lyrics, there were dark undertones.
Though Cuomo is now 35, he came off like an angst-filled teenager on songs like "Perfect Situation" and the half-spoken "El Scorcho." "We should give all our love to each other/Not this hate that destroys us," he sang, sincerely, on "This Is Such a Pity."
The band covered a Foo Fighters song, the sweet-but-sad "Big Me," but the set's biggest surprise came during "Undone -- The Sweater Song," where it turned out that a young woman recruited from the crowd to play guitar actually didn't know how to play the instrument. Cuomo didn't seem to mind, and tried to give her a lesson on the spot. "Put this finger here," he could be heard saying as the rest of the group played. |
