Dave Grohl On The Power Of Live Music: "We Will Do It Again, Because We Have To"

While the Foo Fighters should have been on the road right now celebrating their 25th anniversary, the rock titans – like so many other bands – were forced to postpone their Van Tour due to coronavirus. Instead, Dave Grohl has penned a genuinely moving op-ed about the power of live music, the privilege of his position standing onstage, and the idea of gigs happening again one day in the future.

Writing for The Atlantic for a piece titled The Day The Live Concert Returns, Dave recalls his favourite gigs from a fan's perspective ("I myself have been pressed against the cold front rail of an arena rock show…"), before addressing Foo Fighters' dedicated audience and how lucky he's felt to be performing for them.

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"Not to brag, but I think I’ve had the best seat in the house for 25 years," he says. "Because I do see you. I see you pressed against the cold front rails. I see you air-drumming along to your favorite songs in the distant rafters. I see you lifted above the crowd and carried to the stage for a glorious swan dive back into its sweaty embrace. I see your homemade signs and your vintage T-shirts. I hear your laughter and your screams and I see your tears."

Dave continues that, "In today’s world of fear and unease and social distancing, it's hard to imagine sharing experiences like these ever again."

But he's typically positive and encouraging about this unfortunate and unprecedented situation, writing, "But I do know that we will do it again, because we have to. It’s not a choice. We’re human. We need moments that reassure us that we are not alone. That we are understood. That we are imperfect. And, most important, that we need each other.

"I have shared my music, my words, my life with the people who come to our shows. And they have shared their voices with me. Without that audience – that screaming, sweating audience – my songs would only be sound. But together, we are instruments in a sonic cathedral, one that we build together night after night. And one that we will surely build again."

Read The Day The Live Concert Returns in full right here.

While we wait for more news on the future of live music, Foo Fighters recently unveiled a stream of their incredible 2006 show at London's Hyde Park – check it out below:

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