BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — They packed a 50,000 seat football stadium just over a year ago. So what is the multi-platinum band Foo Fighters — one of the top selling rock bands in the industry — doing playing a show at the tiny Nile Theater in Bakersfield? A place that squeezes in 700 people, standing? At $30 a pop, they’re barely covering the electric bill.
Answer: This is all about gratitude, good will and friendship. That, anyway, is our best guess, based on our limited clues.
One: The sold-out Monday night show is a huge bonanza for the 119-year-old Nile Theater, which has been under the Fox Theater umbrella for two years and needed a break-out show to earn from street cred.
“A lot of people don’t realize the Nile is open again and this is definitely gonna open people’s eyes,” said Ally Lara, a venue manager with the Fox Theater foundation. “We’re here, we’re doing shows and we want everybody to come out and see us.”
Two: It’s a huge bonanza for Going Underground Records and the continuing rehabilitation of the cultural institution of the vinyl record. The Foos made a small number of tickets available to Going Underground via a free raffle, and fans lined up Monday to try their luck. Steven Zalaya missed his chance to buy tickets Sunday, but he was first in line Monday for a raffle ticket.
“I was in line maybe for about three hours (Sunday), but unfortunately, I was — the cutoff was right in front of me,” he said.
Katie Williams had a similar story.
Foo Fighters announce surprise Bakersfield show, hundreds of fans line up for tickets
“I hurried down here and I’ve been waiting in my car since about 9:15 a.m.,” she said, happy to be second in line.
George Rice, third in line, why would a famous rock band play in such a tiny venue?
“I have no idea,” he said.
You don’t ask questions when an opportunity like this presents itself. You just go for it, right?
“I know they did (a show in) SLO a while back and my buddies got to go,” Rice said, perhaps slightly envious.
The Foos must simply be interested in small venues these days.
“Yep,” Rice said.
Record store owner Ron Ramirez was grateful for the love.
“It’s a very rare event” to have a band of this stature playing in such a venue, he said. “But I bet them doing this is gonna open the door for more.”
Three: One factor could be the affection that Foo Fighters lead guitar player Chris Shiflett has long professed for the Bakersfield Sound, as he explained in a 2023 interview with 17 News.
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“What I kinda figured out was that there was this thing called the Bakersfield Sound that had been kinda like all around me my whole life that I’d never really noticed,” Shiflett said.
Four: Foo founder-frontman Dave Grohl’s friendship with Bakersfield native Jonathan Davis of Korn had to have had an impact. The two exchanged recent Instagram messages alluding to the Nile Theater show.
Grohl posted a photo of himself wearing a Korn-branded Adidas tracksuit, which members of the “Freak on a Leash” metal band famously prefer.
“This time of year always makes me think of Kornfields,” Grohl wrote. Jonathan Davis then responded, “[I’ll] send you one of mine,” along with a heart and laughing emoji. The Foo Fighters played a series of pop-up concerts in September, marking their first live shows with new drummer Ilan Rubin. They’ll launch a full North American stadium tour in 2026.
We’re not expecting the Nile to be on that schedule.