{"id":42347,"date":"2025-11-07T10:31:56","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T10:31:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/42347\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T10:31:56","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T10:31:56","slug":"surprise-foo-fighters-show-at-bakersfields-tiny-nile-theater-is-a-welcome-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/42347\/","title":{"rendered":"Surprise Foo Fighters show at Bakersfield’s tiny Nile Theater is a welcome one"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 They packed a 50,000 seat football stadium just over a year ago. So what is the multi-platinum band Foo Fighters \u2014 one of the top selling rock bands in the industry \u2014 doing playing a show at the tiny Nile Theater in Bakersfield<\/a>? A place that squeezes in 700 people, standing? At $30 a pop, they\u2019re barely covering the electric bill.<\/p>\n

Answer: This is all about gratitude, good will and friendship. That, anyway, is our best guess, based on our limited clues.<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t\tWatch 17 News, After Sunrise and more local news free on your smart TV. Click to learn more about KGET+\t<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people don\u2019t realize the Nile is open again and this is definitely gonna open people\u2019s eyes,\u201d said Ally Lara, a venue manager with the Fox Theater foundation. \u201cWe\u2019re here,\u00a0 we\u2019re doing shows and we want everybody to come out and see us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two: It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in line maybe for about three hours (Sunday), but unfortunately, I was \u2014 the cutoff was right in front of me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Katie Williams had a similar story.<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t\tFoo Fighters announce surprise Bakersfield show, hundreds of fans line up for tickets\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI hurried down here and I\u2019ve been waiting in my car since about 9:15 a.m.,\u201d she said, happy to be second in line.<\/p>\n

George Rice, third in line, why would a famous rock band play in such a tiny venue?<\/p>\n

\u201cI have no idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t ask questions when an opportunity like this presents itself. You just go for it, right?<\/p>\n

\u201cI know they did (a show in) SLO a while back and my buddies got to go,\u201d Rice said, perhaps slightly envious.<\/p>\n

The Foos must simply be interested in small venues these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cYep,\u201d Rice said.<\/p>\n

Record store owner Ron Ramirez was grateful for the love.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very rare event\u201d to have a band of this stature playing in such a venue, he said. \u201cBut I bet them doing this is gonna open the door for more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three: One factor could be the affection that Foo Fighters lead guitar player Chris Shiflett<\/a> has long professed for the Bakersfield Sound, as he explained in a 2023 interview with 17 News.<\/p>\n

\t
\n\t\tFoo Fighters guitarist, bringing his side gig to Temblor, knows his Bakersfield Sound\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat 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\u2019d never really noticed,\u201d Shiflett said.<\/p>\n

Four: Foo founder-frontman Dave Grohl\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Grohl posted a photo of himself wearing a Korn-branded Adidas tracksuit, which members of the \u201cFreak on a Leash\u201d metal band famously prefer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time of year always makes me think of Kornfields,\u201d Grohl wrote. Jonathan Davis then responded, \u201c[I\u2019ll] send you one of mine,\u201d 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\u2019ll launch a full North American stadium tour in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not expecting the Nile to be on that schedule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 They packed a 50,000 seat football stadium just over a year ago. So what…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42348,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-42347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42347"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42347\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}