Deep Cuts, Hits, and a Choir: Foo Fighters’ Hollywood Bowl Debut Sends Off Gustavo Dudamel With a Bang

“It’s a celebration,” said Dave Grohl, chugging from a bottle of champagne toward the end of Foo Fighters’ sold-out show at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, Aug. 22 — somehow, the first time the 32-year-old band has played the iconic venue in the heart of Hollywood. He wasn’t just referring to the band’s gig there, though. He was referencing the enormity of the whole night, which found the band digging through both deep back catalog songs and hits, backed by the dozens-strong Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by beloved longtime music director Gustavo Dudamel, on his penultimate night with the LA Phil before moving across the country to helm the New York Philharmonic (West Coasters, do not despair: He will return regularly to the city and the ensemble as a guest conductor).

Dudamel and his orchestra added incredible amounts of drama to the group’s material. “The Pretender” was buoyed by horns that made it sound like a lost James Bond theme, while “Razor,” an acoustic deep-cut from In Your Honor, was made full with gorgeous, lilting strings echoing the main instrumental themes. After playing another softer song, “Home,” for the first time since 2007, Grohl admitted, “Whenever we played that song, there’s no way I could make it through without just bursting into tears.” He continued, waxing poetic about playing the Bowl with the orchestra: “I wish that we could do this every night for the rest of our lives, with all these amazing people.”

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Other highlights included a gospel choir adding harmony and joy to “The Sky Is a Neighborhood” and “Run,” and an emotional, lengthy run-through of “Aurora,” which the band dedicated to their late drummer Taylor Hawkins, as they have done regularly since his passing (“He would have loved this,” Grohl exclaimed, looking out at the full Bowl.)

Of course, the set ended with “Everlong,” the entire orchestra and the choir erupting in a crescendo as fireworks set to the music blasted over the Bowl. “If anything could ever be this good again,” Grohl sang, and it certainly felt like all 17,500 people who had witnessed the show agreed: highly unlikely.