"That’s a Stadium Rock Show, Motherfuckers" | Foo Fighters @ The Linc

MANNEQUIN PUSSY

I was over-the-moon to hear that Mannequin Pussy would be opening for Foo Fighters on the Take Cover Tour when it was announced last fall, because I know what opening for Foo Fighters can do for an artist. For comparison, Amyl & The Sniffers held that same opening spot when I saw the Everything or Nothing At All Tour in 2024, after which they really blew up.

When I got to the tour itinerary at the bottom of the press release, my mouth dropped–in like a half-grin/half-catching-flies sort of way... you know, shock and elation that Foos are finally playing on this side of the Delaware River once again.

That's when it hit me. Holy shit! I thought (although, to be completely honest I may have actually said this out loud to my computer screen). That means Mannequin Pussy is playing The Linc!

Needless to say, as all five members of Mannequin Pussy walked on stage Thursday afternoon, decked head-to-toe in Eagles gear, I found myself getting a little choked up. “This is such a big deal for them to be playing here,” I told my non-Philadelphian friend, “not just because it’s a stadium, but because it’s this stadium.”

Those who were able to make the 5:30 p.m. start time on a Thursday afternoon were about to get a real fucking treat.

“HELLO PHILADELPHIA!” lead vocalist and guitarist Missy Dabice yelled triumphantly, greeting the crowd. “We are Mannequin Pussy from PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,” she continued (she definitely said something after that, but I was too busy screaming to hear it).

I spent Mannequin Pussy’s entire set rocking the fuck out, watching as folks walked to their seats, phones in hand, capturing the momentous nature of a local Philly band playing the hallowed ground that is Lincoln Financial Field. Undoubtedly, a dream-come-true homecoming for the band.

Before the last song in their set, Dabice took a moment to thank everyone involved in the production of the show, from the tour staff all the way to the stadium employees. “I would like to use it as a way to remind you that it is the working-class people who make this country great,” Dabice said, walking forward on the stage catwalk. “And it is only when we come together and look out for each other, do we stand any chance against a billionaire class that is trying to SQUEEZE US OUT OF FUCKING EVERYTHING THAT WE HAVE.”

As the crowd cheered, Dabice finished with what would be my favorite quote of the night: “So ‘Go Birds,’ FUCK John Fetterman, Philadelphia FOREVER, Baby.”

After finishing their set with “Loud Bark,” all five band members—Dabice, Maxine Steen, Colins “Bear” Regisford, Kaleen Reading, and touring member Carolyn Haynes—walked forward in their Eagles gear to lead the audience in a singalong of “Fly Eagles, Fly.” A good luck charm for the upcoming football season, perhaps, but as I see it, a celebration of Mannequin Pussy’s victory of their own.

Setlist:
Softly
Drunk II
Sometimes
Split Me Open
I Got Heaven
Control
Romantic
Aching
OK? OK! OK? OK!
Loud Bark
Fly, Eagles Fly (The Philadelphia Eagles’ fight song)

QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE

Due to (my own) poor planning and an extensively long merch line, I unfortunately missed a chunk of Queens of the Stone Age’s set. I heard it, though—and they sounded excellent.

Thankfully, I was back in my seat in time to see the band nail both “Go With The Flow” and “No One Knows”—two songs that shot me right back to high school. In an instant, I felt like I was back in my friend Katie's bedroom burning mix CDs. I could even almost smell her freshly lit Parliament Light.

Appropriately timed, my 20-year high school reunion was just last month (No, I did not attend). Thanks for that, Homme & Co.

Setlist:
Regular John
The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret
My God Is the Sun
Time & Place
Little Sister
Domesticated Animals
Make It Wit Chu
Easy Street
Paper Machete
Go With the Flow
No One Knows
A Song for the Dead

Ladies and Gentlemen, FOO FIGHTERS

My first Foo Fighters concert was what transformed me from a “casual listener” into a bona fide fan. The date was July 17, 2015; I caught the band on their Sonic Highways Tour, which, by the time the band made it stateside, also carried the unofficial moniker “The Broken Leg Tour.”

Why? Well, a little over a month prior, during the tour’s stop in Gothenburg, Sweden, frontman Dave Grohl fell from the stage midway through the second song of the band’s set. The show was paused while he was evaluated by medics–Grohl even apologizing for the delay and promising to finish the show once his injury was stabilized while being loaded onto a stretcher.

A while later and against all medical advice, he re-emerged on crutches before finishing the show in a seated position while an EMT made sure to keep his broken leg still. It was a position he would remain in for most of Foo Fighters’ North American dates the following month. Instead of canceling the rest of the tour so he could recover, the band commissioned a custom, light-up throne that moved up and down the stage, allowing Grohl to perform while still giving his leg time to heal. An idea that the frontman later admitted was sketched out when he was "high as a kite" after being given painkillers at a Swedish hospital.

It was genius. Which is how, on July 17, 2015, I watched Dave Grohl rock harder sitting down than most musicians do while they’re on their own two feet. It was his commitment to his craft and his “the show must go on” demeanor that really wowed me (even if he now thinks the throne idea was stupid).

And as much credit as Grohl deserves, he wasn’t the only reason I fell in love with the band that night. Every member of the Foos blew me away—Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, Nate Mendel, and Taylor Hawkins, whose impassioned performances made me wonder what ethereal source they drew their energy from. That show remains in my Top 5 favorite concerts ever, and I am forever thankful that I got to see Taylor Hawkins exhibit his insane, multifaceted musical talent before we lost him.

In March 2022, Hawkins died suddenly while Foo Fighters were on tour in South America. Following the unfathomable loss of Hawkins, the tight-knit band understandably canceled the rest of their tour to grieve. When they returned in 2023, rock vet Josh Freese took over behind the kit. Freese, an immensely talented drummer whose career I’ve followed since his time with The Vandals, toured with the Foos on the Everything or Nothing At All Tour in 2024–which was when I attended my second FF concert. Afterward, I’d noticed some discourse on social media between fans about the energy feeling different. With a nine-year gap between my own Foo Fighters shows, I didn’t know the band well enough to notice a difference at the time.

The observations were confirmed when it was announced last summer that Freese would be leaving Foo Fighters to do a rock-and-roll switcheroo with Ilan Rubin of Nine Inch Nails. I was looking forward to finding out whether I would notice a difference.

At almost exactly 8:00 p.m., the stadium lights cut out and the Batsignal that is the Foo Fighters emblem above the stage began to glow. It was time. The sound of an electric guitar strumming in overdrive filled Lincoln Financial Field, cutting through the sound of 60,000-plus attendees cheering like a freshly sharpened meat cleaver.

Seconds later, Grohl ran onto the stage, strumming his guitar with one hand while using the other to point at the audience, akin to a warm-up comic getting their studio audience ready for a televised show.

“HEYYYYYY,” he yelled into the microphone as his bandmates took the stage.

“Are you ready? Are you all fucking ready? Let’s go!” Grohl growled before breaking into the familiar opening chords of “All My Life.”

As the verses gave way to the first chorus, chills filled my body when I heard more than 60,000 people sing along:

“Hey, don’t let it go to waste / I love it, but I hate the taste / Weight keeping me down”

The energy was absolutely electric; this is a rock show, I thought. THIS IS WHY I LOVE ROCK MUSIC. Being surrounded by tens of thousands of people you've never met, bonded by the music as it pulses through your veins. Injection by subwoofer.

If you've never seen them live, it's important to note that a Foo Fighters show is a good example of the adage, “it’s a marathon, not a sprint.” The band is known for giving the audience their money’s worth, as Grohl reminded the crowd in the middle of the second song of the band’s set, “The Pretender.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the next three fucking hours of your life.”

I'm glad I stretched beforehand, because the three hours that followed were a relentless onslaught of movement and music as the band played hit after hit after hit, somehow encapsulating just about every human emotion along the way. I got to check “Rope,” “Stacked Actors,” and “Wheels” off of my list of "Songs I Still Haven't Heard Live But Absolutely Want To At Some Point." And I'll allow myself one more brief personal aside: hearing “Times Like These” and “Walk” live after the summer I’ve had was a much-needed catharsis. An emotional release.

There’s a certain thrill to hearing these songs performed live because Foo Fighters have a way of breaking a track down midway through, stripping it back until you’re almost desperate for that final chorus, and then putting the pieces back together just in time for a climactic finish that practically demands to be screamed back at them by the audience. Tracks that are already high-energy in their recorded form are given extra ammo, like a cannon with a lit fuse. When that final chorus hits, the energy in the stadium is explosive.

The B-stage set, a brief reprieve from the sweaty thrashing around, included a surprise proposal in the audience (she said yes!) and a rare, beautiful acoustic performance of “Marigold,” which Grohl first released under the pseudonym Late! in 1992. A second version of “Marigold” was recorded by Nirvana and released as the B-side to “Heart-Shaped Box” in 1993, making the track’s inclusion a rare nod to the band that introduced Grohl to a worldwide audience.

Speaking of rare events relative to Grohl’s Nirvana days, the crowd got a brief chance to see the frontman jump behind the drums again on Thursday night, switching places with Rubin during the latter’s turn in the band introduction medley.

To introduce each member, Foo Fighters cover a song from their respective pasts: No Use for a Name, Sunny Day Real Estate, The Germs, The Wallflowers (keyboardist Rami Jaffee joined the band in 2016), and finally The New Regime, Rubin’s solo project.

The New Regime song, “Dancing in a Minefield,” saw Grohl and Rubin switch places, making for an unexpected—and fucking awesome—surprise. Not only did I get to see Dave Grohl back behind a drum kit, but I got to see just how talented a guitarist Rubin is.

All marathons come to the final stretch, and as this one edged closer to the finish line, the Fighting Foos had one final, epic boost to help get us all across it. Fireworks erupted above the stage as the band launched into “Everlong,” sending 60,000-plus fans into the Philadelphia night.

As Grohl said earlier in the set, “That’s a stadium rock show, motherfuckers.”

Now, the real and final question: did I notice a difference between Ilan Rubin and Josh Freese?

I did.

Freese’s near-surgical precision makes him a rarity: a drummer who can step in at a moment’s notice and hit every beat. Rubin is more emotive; he moves with soul, his long, curly hair constantly in motion behind the kit. Freese may have been the perfect person to help Foo Fighters find their footing after Hawkins’ death, but in the long term, Rubin feels right for where the band is today–and I can't wait to see what they do next.

Setlist:
A Stage
All My Life
The Pretender
Times Like These
Rope
Stacked Actors
My Hero
Learn to Fly
These Days
Walk
This Is A Call
No Son of Mine

B Stage
Wheels
Marigold
Big Me
Under You (Grohl solo)

A Stage
Your Favorite Toy
La Dee Da
Run
Invincible (No Use for a Name cover) / Seven (Sunny Day Real Estate cover) / One Headlight (The Wallflowers cover) / Manimal (The Germs cover) / Tap Dancing in a Minefield (The New Regime cover)
Monkey Wrench
Breakout
Aurora
Best of You

The Teacher
Everlong