Foo Fighters at the Festival d’été de Québec: memorable rock lesson from Dave Grohl

If any young musicians attended the Foo Fighters concert Saturday night on the Plains of Abraham, hopefully they took notes because Dave Grohl delivered possibly the most ferocious, jubilant, compelling and memorable lesson in rock and festival-goer’s memory roll.

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The most charismatic rock star on the planet was on a mission, unleashed. He was screaming, his long hair flying all over the place, determined to exceed expectations and win over every spectator who filled the Plains for the Foo Fighters’ third visit to the Summer Festival in eight years.

Even the quieter ones in the Gold zone were in his sights. “I’ll get you. I have an eye on you,” he said, praising the madness of the festival-goers to his left.

Without making any artistic compromise, Dave Grohl and his band have shown admirable respect for their audience.

Everyone contributed. Chris Shiffett, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Rami Jaffee and newcomer Josh Freese followed the insane pace set by their leader with aplomb for more than two hours.

“The evening is going to be long”, had quickly warned the singer, between two rock roars, during a breathtaking introduction during which the Foo put on vitaminized and stretched versions ofAll My Life, The Pretender And Walk.

He was right. Every time we thought the song was over, it wasn’t over. The guys started the machine again. To give you an idea, it took an hour to play the first ten titles on the program.

Extra charges

Obviously, the band has gone through all of its major successes, from Learn To Fly to the epic Everlong Passing by Times Like These, My Heroa metallic Breakoutin front of the Plains illuminated by thousands of cell phones, until Monkey Wrench And Best of You.

What made the difference were the extras.

For example, the presentation of Freese, the excellent drummer who took the place of the late Taylor Hawkins and whom fans of the group immediately loved thanks to numerous moments where his hard-hitting playing was highlighted. This interlude became the pretext for a sarcastic cover of a piece by… Michael Bublé and another, which we would have liked to hear in full as it was so mind-blowing, by March of the Pigsfrom Nine Inch Nails.

In a rare moment of calm, we witnessed a beautiful father-daughter moment when a Violet Grohl sang Shame Shame And Show Me How, dedicated to his deceased grandmother, with dad Dave. The teenager seemed intimidated by the huge crowd as she took to the stage, but she delivered the goods, as well as seeing her first career ‘We love you Violet’ sign.

He will never forget 2015

Dave Grohl also wanted to point out that the Foo Fighters and Quebec have built a solid relationship based on a common memory, the famous “four-tone show” of 2015.

“It was stupid,” recalled the 54-year-old singer-guitarist. “I’ll never forget when I played at that fucking festival in that stormy estie for the rest of my life.”

The rock bombardment to which Quebecers were subjected on Saturday evening will certainly strengthen this seemingly indestructible bond. A fourth visit to the Summer Festival will be a must before long, without a doubt.

“If you come back, we will come back,” promised Dave Grohl.

In the meantime, Montrealers will have them for themselves on Monday evening, in the privacy of the Verdun Auditorium. It promises!

White Reaper: simple and effective

Descending from the lineage of juvenile punk rock groups, the American quintet White Reaper recalled, in the 8 p.m. time slot, that this genre relegated to the shade has not yet said its last word.

Their recipe is simple and effective: uplifting melodies built around biting guitars and incisive percussion. Even if the majority of festival-goers seemed unaware of their existence, the Pages And Judy French made the audience react, where there seemed to be a few connoisseurs.

Special mention to keyboardist Ryan Hater for his whimsical stage presence and corporate spirit. “Coors Light sponsors. I think I’ll take one,” he said, taking a good sip of the FEQ hops.

For his part, singer Tony Esposito (yes, like the former goalkeeper) had good words for the “patient and kind for us” crowd.

Starcrawler: Next

Performing on the Plains of Abraham is attractive, but it’s not always the right context to discover an artist. Talk to Starcrawler, five young Californians on a mission to resurrect the good old rock of the Stooges or the Ramones, which was assigned to the 7 p.m. time slot.

Led by the slender dynamo and contortionist Arrow de Wilde, Starcrawler gives himself with ardor, it is a fact. However, with no known hits to relate to and because the musicians did not seek to establish a real connection with the public (as Grandson and Talk did brilliantly on Friday), their performance did not prevent the majority festival-goers to talk about their day. Poor sound quality didn’t help either.

You can’t help but think it might have been different, or not, in an overheated Imperial, like it used to be. In the meantime, we moved on to the next one without complaining.