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Rise Against/Delta Riggs
NIB Stadium
Sunday, March 8, 2015
Drivers passing through Lord St last Sunday evening were in for a dangerous battle as an endless mass of Foo Fighters fans, young and old, headed into the recently redeveloped NIB Stadium to celebrate 20 years of rock legends, the Foo Fighters.
Kicking things off early, Melbourne boys The Delta Riggs brought their own blend of punk rock to a ripe and ready crowd. Backing up claims that they’re Australia’s ‘next big thing’, the group smashed through a groovy and edgy set, finishing with fan-favourite, Rah Rah Radio.
As the stands began to fill and the mosh began to merge into place, Chicago’s Rise Against hit the stage. Fresh off their recent album release, The Black Market, the group decided to take a different approach to their set kicking things off with classic tracks Ready To Fall and Give It All. Singer Tim McIlrath and guitarist Zach Blair were non-stop, giving as much energy to their fans as they were giving back despite sound issues causing a switch of guitars and a lack of grunt from drummer Brandon Barnes’ cymbals; all was recovered in time for cult-hit Prayer Of The Refugee. After a classic cover of Jawbreaker’s Kiss The Bottle alongside Foo Fighter’s Chris Shiflett, the quartet smashed out recent single, I Don’t Want To Be Here Anymore, and led the crowd through the always brilliant Savior.
Soon a packed out NIB Stadium was screaming and chanting for their rock heroes and sure enough the Foo Fighters appeared to roars, jumping straight into recent release, Something From Nothing, as they built towards a huge ending sending fans into a frenzy. From the onset Dave Grohl had the crowd in the palm of his hand as lyrics to The Pretender continued to echo throughout the venue. In what would become a common theme of the night, classic tracks featured extended instrumental riffage or continuous classic moments from the master himself such as acknowledging a crowd surfer selfie.
Continuing with classic hits from every album since their inception, the group ran through crowd pleasers Learn To Fly, Breakout and My Hero. Following a hilarious sequence of introductions in which guitarist Chris Shiflett received a huge pop for a purposely short and poor solo, which he would follow up with an insane showcase of skills, bassist Nate Mendel stole the moment however with a quick rendition of Another One Bites The Dust alongside drummer Taylor Hawkins who later received a huge ovation from the Perth crowd.
Following the revelation that Grohl had flown all the way home and back to Perth to attend a daddy/daughter dance during which he developed food poisoning, Grohl chugged down his beer despite still feeling ill following a ‘skull’ chant. Jumping back into the set, Hawkins sung through Cold Day In The Sun with the Grohl returning to vocals for Arlandria and Monkey Wrench. Heading up an endless ramp-way Grohl performed Skin And Bones for the seated fans and hilariously stopped Times Like These to pose for a front-row fan photo before the whole band appeared mid-ramp on a moving platform and smaller set-up to perform classic covers of Stay With Me, Let There Be Rock and Under Pressure.
Concluding an epic night the band returned to the stage for All My Life, Best Of You and Everlong, Grohl promised whether it was three or four years, we’ll see them soon. And boy does a whole lotta Perth hope so.
AARON BRYANS
Photography by Cole Maguire
