I got up early, determined to see something of Kansas City before I headed for Council Bluffs, Iowa. The sky was overcast, so I was a bit grouchy that I missed shooting the area the evening before. After a long while of being certain that my GPS was leading me astray, I finally wound up at KC’s famous “Plaza.” Ellie and I walked around the uber-fancy shopping district snapping pics here and there. I think that was Ellie’s first big-city walk. She did great.
Any way here are my favorite shots from “The Plaza”
One thing about traveling via GPS, sometimes the turns and exits are so close together the voice nav can’t get her full sentence out before your next turn. And one problem with missing your exit is that takes FOREVER to get back on track. I was driving in loops for nearly half an hour. Grr. And that is all I have to say about that particular aggravation.
Somewhere along the boring old highway, I decided to hype myself up for the gig and played Wasting Light all the way through. Of course, White Limo gave me a case of lead foot. “GOOOOOOOOO LIIIIMOOO!” Whoops! Just when I noticed how fast I was going, I glanced into the rearview and noticed a cop zip onto the highway from the median. DAMN! I was certain I was busted.
I set the cruise control just under the speed limit, drove like a little old lady on her way to church, turned Dave’s volume WAY down, and waited for the inevitable. The cop followed me…and followed me…and followed me, but never got really close. He must have followed me for ten or fifteen miles, but he never pulled me over. WHEW!
Long story short, got to the hotel, got ready, and went to the gig. I was kind of surprised that they had a dude outside the arena blasting Wasting Light at the people in line. I thought it was gauche to play the album the band’s touring for right before the show. Not like I minded, it’s just sort of odd.
There was a really weird sculpture outside the arena. It had to be three stories tall, three stainless steel dudes with enough holes to look like Swiss cheese. Weird and cool.
Signs at the door announced that Motorhead wouldn’t be playing due to “travel conditions out of their control” but the same sign also bragged that, as a result, the Foos would play a 2 ½ hour show. Yeah, like they weren’t going to do that Motorhead or no! Hahaha
Definitely the smallest arena, but it was full and very enthusiastic. All four shows, my seats were on the right side of the stage. I was closest to the main stage in Tulsa, but in Council Bluffs, I was practically right on top of the mid-floor mini-stage! The photos were going to rock!
The show went on as normal; Biffy Clyro played. I really must get some of their music. That “Fireman” song is sticking in my head. I don’t think Biffy extended their set, but the intermission between them and Foo was extra long. They still started earlier than the other gigs, and they still started with a four-song blast of absolute ROCK power, before letting us up for air.
About midway through their set, Dave started talking about how they were going to play until the audience told them to go home, which made the rowdy crowd roar in approval. Surprised by the response, Dave said when they “got all the hits out of the way” they’d just play covers until they dropped. The crowd loved that too, so Dave decided they’d do a cover right then. It surprised me to hear them play Breakdown by Tom Petty. It, of course, was awesome!
But the cover they did that blew the roof off the entire place came a little later. Shiff, Pat, and Nate snuck off the stage as a roadie dude brought Dave out a yellow guitar. Now this may be a stunning revelation of my level of fandom for the Foos…but it wasn’t a guitar I recognized. Yeah, I actually recognize his guitars. The blue Gibson’s my fave. Anyway, so he puts on the yellow guitar and goes up to the mic. “So I got a text today from fucking Lemmy in Dallas. It said ‘5:30 is the new 3:30 and tornado is the new partly cloudy.’” Although Lemmy and Mikkey were stuck in Dallas. Phil Campbell was with the Foos!
So Phil came out and while he got ready to play his guitar, Dave kept saying things like, “I don’t know about this. This is a bass. I don’t really play bass. I hope I don’t screw this up.” Then he started plunking notes on his yellow bass like a complete beginner would. But when Phil gave him the nod, Dave RIPPED into the bass line of Ace of Spades like he’d been playing it every day for twenty years! The crowd went completely insane. I can’t even tell you much about the performance of the song, I was too busy flinging my hair to the frenetic beat like a crazy person. It was perfect…absolutely perfect!
Another great moment in the show, Dave climbed down into the security/photo pit from the corner of the stage and worked his way around to the front of the stage. The front of the stage had a section that stuck out about ten feet from the main stage, and when Dave got up the stairs to the end of it, he stood there out front with his back to the crowd…pulled up his pants dramatically, wiggled his butt, and then stuck his tongue out at us over his shoulder. LOL! I love that man.
Toward the end of the encore, Dave flipped the lyrics of Skin and Bones around and as soon as he realized he’d fucked it up, he turned to Chris Shifflet and both of them cracked up.
It was a great show…they’ve all been great. Even though the crowd in Little Rock was a bit lame, none of the bands gave anything less than 110%.
I realized as I walked to my car, that the Foo Fighters are probably the only band you’ll ever catch me going to an arena to see. Theaters, or clubs are my usual venues. I’m usually not a fan of arena shows because you feel so far off and detached from the performance, but not so with Foo! Dave drags you thrashing and screaming into the show and rocks your ass off…and that is why he’s a God-like Genius!
Went back to the hotel, slept, and dreamed of Ireland. Farewell to Foos until July. *sniff*
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