The day I became a fan of the Foo Fighters

It's not that long time ago; in fact, it's just a few days ago, last Monday.

I won't say I will start from now on to non stop listen to the 10 albums of the Foo Fighters. But the quality of their live show at the FEQ 2018 made me a fan of Dave Grohl and his band.

My wife could not come to see the show and I was there with a friend. I've since been telling her that I saw one of the best gigs I've ever witnessed. And yet, we've had our share of cool gigs at the Festival d'Été de Québec, aka FEQ, the annual ten days music festival in the heart of Québec City.
Sorry, dear!

_{The Foo Fighters, picture found on the Foo Fighters wikia.}

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But first, let's rewind a little bit.

We've been living as (legal!) immigrants in Québec City for the past five years, and there has not been a year since we arrived that we haven't paid for our FEQ pass. Usually stalking the pre-reservation online event occurring on March (if I remember correctly) in order to get our pass at a slight lower price.
There is no way someone could argue that paying less than $100 for ten days of concert is prohibitive, as it always includes several "big" names among more than 250 events. (Note: I know $100 is a lot of money for many people, including me, I just want to put that into perspective)
More than often, you pay a lot more to see just one event. For example, last year, I managed to but tickets for Roger Water's Us and Them but they cost $140 a piece. I don't regret it at all, but I wanted to illustrate how seeing one or two events at the festival is already worth more than what you paid for. I deeply regret not paying the $150 to see Prince in Luxembourg a few years ago for example, but that's another story...

We have been lucky to see big names at the FEQ, most of them we would not have gone to see exclusively, my wife and I. This includes the likes of Lady Gaga, The Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, Bruno Mars, Metallica, Sheryl Crow, Sting, Muse, War on Drugs and many others I have forgotten.

The festival was 50 years old last year, I hope it keeps bringing up so many diverse and interesting artists in the years to come.

_{Long live the FEQ!}

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3 years ago, we went to see Foo Fighters on the 11th of July 2015. The weather was OK when we arrived at the event, half an hour before the start, with only little drops of rain coming from grey clouds. But nothing to be afraid of - in theory - when you have rain coats and a light blanket for additional protection.

It was also the period when Dave Grohl, the lead of the band, was playing with a broken leg. He broke it a few weeks before while the band was playing in Sweden. He returned one hour later to finish the show. Talk about dedication...

Unfortunately, it started raining rather heavily as the band entered the scene. Mr. Grohl was sitting on some sort of fancy looking throne since he could not move with this plastered leg. As the band started playing with energy, the rain became heavier, the Plains of Abraham turned even darker with black clouds everywhere. A thunderstorm was brewing very close and we could see the lightning strikes in the distance, only a few kilometers away, getting closer and closer. Even with our rain coats and blanket, we were quickly drenched, as everybody else for that matter. When I say "drenched", I mean it, it was just a giant public shower. Thankfully, it was rather hot (hence the lightning strikes though).

Here is how it looked like for Dave Grohl:

_{This picture sems to be an "official" Foo Fighters picture, but I found it on showbizz.net}

The members of the band were drenched too, as you can see. They entered the scene saying the bad weather would not stop them from playing until the end of the night. But it was not to be, and nobody could blame them!
After the fourth or fifth song, Dave Grohl addressed the crowed and said they could just not go on, since it was becoming very unsafe for us. With all that electric equipment, I am sure everyone behind the scenes was begging them to stop playing. The show lasted a little bit more than 20 minutes and there is a small -epic- recap of it:

And here is an amateur video that captured the event from within the front crowd, and at one point you can see the lightning strikes:

We walked home, completely soaked, with our shoes squeaking at each step, like little ducks. The next morning, the band gave a short interview and said they will come back one day to finish what they started. Everybody knew they would.

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Fast forward 3 years, on the night of the 9th of July 2018.

As we arrived on the Plains of Abraham, near the Joan of Arc Garden, we stopped at the public bathrooms there with other people. It was 8:45 pm and it was starting to rain, heavily. Everyone among us there, some younger, some older, was wearing the FEQ bracelet. We all were here for Foo Fighters, all silently cursing the weather, and all on our phones trying to get updates on the weather.

Fortunately, meteomedia was reporting no rain whatsoever around 10pm. The concert was beginning at 9:30pm. At exactly 9:25pm, there were only a few drops and we decided to walk the remaining 400 meters. We entered the premises at 9:30pm exactly and arrived just in time for the concert to start.
You could have literally sensed everyone's relief at having been spared a storm and a second abruptly stopped concert, including the band, who started with a cheeky thunderous "What a beautiful night!".

The Foo Fighters played for 2 and a half hours. Dave Grohl spoke multiple times about what happened 3 years ago and said they were determined to rock the place. It definitely left a mark on them as they were supposed to play 1 and a half hours, but asked for more and the FEQ and the city obliged. This means a lot since the police, security teams and FEQ people knew they would have to work past midnight until the site was clear and people got safely home.
But they wanted to offer Quebec City people a show that would make them completely forget last time. And they did, they absolutely did.

The Foo Fighters played with incredible energy during the whole concert, sometimes barely stopping for 3 or 4 songs. All members did a solo (or two!), and in addition to plenty of their best material we were treated with some Alice Cooper, Ramones, a funny mash-up of Jump and John Lennon's Imagine, and a very successful homage to Queens & David Bowie's Under Pressure.

It felt clear that even after all these years the band was having a blast playing together. Their energy and passion were radiating out into the crowd. And Dave Grohl is such a showman... How else can you describe someone who makes 80000 people (I think) laugh out loud?!! Sometimes people were still laughing at a joke as a new song was beginning.
Also, he brought his daughter to sing a song with the chorus girls (can't remember which song it was though, sorry)... How cool is that?!

Here is a recap of the event:

And I have a still of my own, at the moment Dave Grohl requested everyone to bring out a light, near the end of the event:

_{Not the best picture I took, but I don't have many of them. I was so absorbed by the show I completely forgot to take more!}

You can also see it from the band's point of view, it must be impressive even for bands that are used to big venues/stadiums.

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Clearly, we were avenged from last time. The local press was dithyrambic about the quality of the show, rightfully so.
It was an epic, perfect night, and I will be sure from now on to always suggest to see the Foo Fighters live, even if it's not exactly their taste. It's pure, loud and fun rock. That energy, passion, and child-like humor will conquer anyone.

As for the songs I discovered, Foo Fighters fans will certainly jump at me, but I've never heard of many songs before, but I definitely liked Sunday Rain, My Hero and Times like These among others!

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As a bonus, here is how the Plains of Abraham and the city look like when the weather is clear:

_{In 2017}

_{In 2017 again, but this was the Rolling Stones, and the place was packed with 100000+ people.}

_{In 2014}