{"id":441496,"date":"2026-08-23T21:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T21:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/441496\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T21:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T21:22:09","slug":"foo-fighters-rock-the-hollywood-bowl-with-dudamel-and-the-la-phil-daily-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/441496\/","title":{"rendered":"Foo Fighters rock the Hollywood Bowl with Dudamel and the LA Phil \u2013 Daily News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two songs into the Foo Fighters<\/a> show at the Hollywood Bowl<\/a> on Saturday, Aug. 22, singer-guitarist Dave Grohl<\/a> paused to acknowledge the special nature of this night backed by Gustavo Dudamel<\/a> and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, I don\u2019t know if you know, Foo Fighters<\/a> never played the Hollywood Bowl before; this is our first time at the Bowl,\u201d Grohl said after the slow burn of \u201cTimes Like These\u201d and primal roar of \u201cAll My Friends\u201d had kicked off the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsually in this part of the program, I ask the audience if they love rock and roll music,\u201d he continued as the band played the opening riff of \u201cThe Pretender\u201d over and over behind him. \u201cDo you love rock and roll? Do you love rock and roll?<\/p>\n

\u201cOK, but tonight I\u2019m going to ask this question for the first time,\u201d Grohl<\/a> said as the cheers of this packed house of rock-and-roll-loving fans died down. \u201cDo you love Dudamel<\/a>? Do you love Dudamel? Me, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo let\u2019s play some rock and roll for Mr. Dudamel now,\u201d he finished. \u201cThat\u2019s what we came here to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Foo Fighters play with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Foo Fighters play with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Foo Fighters play with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Gustavo<\/p>\n

Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Foo Fighters play with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Foo Fighters play with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"Romero<\/p>\n

Romero Fuga Con Pajarillo joins the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Foo Fighters play with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 9<\/p>\n

The Foo Fighters play with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as Gustavo Dudamel conducts his next-to-last time with the LA Phil at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, August 22, 2026 before he heads to NYC. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

This penultimate night of Dudamel\u2019s 17 years as conductor and music director of the L.A. Phil was every bit as special as anyone might have hoped, with the Foo Fighters and Dudamel and the orchestra combining for a spectacular night of orchestral rock and roll.<\/p>\n

Unlike some past nights at the Bowl, when the rock act on stage overwhelms the orchestra behind it, here the Foo Fighters and the Philharmonic matched each other perfectly in power and passion.<\/p>\n

Some of that\u2019s certainly due to the orchestral arrangements of the 15 Foo Fighters songs performed over an hour and 40 minutes on Saturday. At times, band and orchestra blended together into a glorious beauty; in other moments, one or the other dropped out of the mix to let the rock band or orchestra shine on its own.<\/p>\n

Some of it also stemmed from song choices. While Foo Fighters played many of the biggest hits, Grohl also noted they\u2019d pulled some deep cuts from the catalog because they\u2019d work so well in an orchestral setting.<\/p>\n

\u201cA320,\u201d for instance, had only been played live 10 or so times since its 1998 release on the \u201cGodzilla\u201d soundtrack. It opened with the cinematic beauty of the orchestra\u2019s shimmering strings before the Foo Fighters\u2019 guitars, bass and drums joined in.<\/p>\n

Fan favorite \u201cMy Hero\u201d provided one of those moments bands and fans alike love to share at this historic venue. \u201cThis song was made for the Hollywood Bowl,\u201d Grohl shouted near its end. \u201cYou better sing!\u201d<\/p>\n

The voices of thousands singing the chorus of the song acapella came back at him from the boxes and benches above.<\/p>\n

Midway through the show, a choir of 10 singers in red, blue and yellow robes came out for \u201cThe Sky is a Neighborhood,\u201d transforming it into a fantastic gospel-rock-and-orchestral stunner. After \u201cRun,\u201d the choir left and the Foo Fighters reached into the past for a pair of the deepest cuts of the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI Should Have Known\u201d opened with the orchestra beneath a long, gorgeous violin solo, the Foo Fighters joining in after several minutes as the strings in the orchestra soared throughout.<\/p>\n

\u201cRazor,\u201d which Foo Fighters hadn\u2019t played in 20 years, followed with Grohl accompanying himself solo on acoustic guitar as woodwinds including flute, clarinet and bassoon got spotlights over soft clouds of violins, violas and cellos.<\/p>\n

You could tell Grohl was having the time of his life on stage with the orchestra throughout the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cGustavo, how\u2019re you doing?\u201d he asked at the end of \u201cRazor,\u201d looking back at Dudamel, who grinned as he nodded that, yes, he was doing well. \u201cSo I figure we just get 14 more buses and take [the L.A. Phil] on tour for the rest of our lives. Good plan?\u201d<\/p>\n

You could also sense his delight in his frequent request to turn the house lights on so he and the band could see the 17,000 or so fans who packed the amphitheater all the way up the hillside.<\/p>\n

\u201cDan, light \u2019em up the hill!\u201d Grohl shouted during his introduction to \u201cAurora,\u201d which the Foo Fighters play every show in tribute to the late drummer Taylor Hawkins. \u201cLet me see everybody. Let\u2019s make a big noise for Mr. Taylor Hawkins. He would have loved this.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Grohl started to introduce \u201cBest Of You,\u201d he noticed guitarist Pat Smear and bassist Nate Mendel passing a bottle.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you guys drinking champagne?\u201d he asked mock-accusingly as Mendel passed him the bottle, from which he took a long pull. \u201cIt\u2019s a celebration,\u201d Grohl added, passing the bottle back to Smear, who held it up as a toast to Dudamel, who grinned and gave him two thumbs-up.<\/p>\n

\u201cBest Of You\u201d unfolded with orchestral sections bookending a long Foo-only rock-and-roll middle section that gave drummer Ilan Rubin a chance to not only show off his chops behind the drum kit but also the way his black curly hair took flight just like Dudamel\u2019s had during his earlier years with the L.A. Phil.<\/p>\n

\u201cHome,\u201d which hadn\u2019t been played since 2005 and, according to internet sources, the band has only ever played five times, left the band and orchestra and choir with one final song to play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wish we could do this every [bleepin\u2019] night for the rest of our lives,\u201d Grohl said, occasionally strumming his guitar strings as he spoke. \u201cWith all of these amazing people. I mean, c\u2019mon, whether it\u2019s Gustavo, the choir, the orchestra, you have to give it up for the actual musicians tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Long, loud cheers fall from every row of the amphitheater.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an honor to come and be invited to this hallowed ground, this special place,\u201d Grohl continued. \u201cTo be able to give Gustavo one more big rock show before he has to leave this wonderful city. And then to share this experience with all of your guys. It\u2019s so amazing.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd thank you, everybody. Dan, light \u2019em up, let me see the top of the hill, that\u2019s what I\u2019ve got to see. Look at that, it\u2019s like a whole \u2018nother ZIP code. Is that the 818, is that what\u2019s going on?\u201d<\/p>\n

Laughter joined the cheers now.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, we\u2019ve always found that the best way to say goodbye isn\u2019t to say goodbye at all,\u201d Grohl said. \u201cWe just say this.\u201d<\/p>\n

The opening riff of \u201cEverlong,\u201d one of Foo Fighters\u2019 signature songs, launched another round of cheers and screams, and the band rocked, the orchestra soared, fireworks blasted above the bandshell.<\/p>\n

The night sky lit with a rainbow of color, bringing to a close a marvelous Hollywood Bowl debut for Foo Fighters while leaving Dudamel with one last show as head of the Los Angeles Philharmonic on Sunday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two songs into the Foo Fighters show at the Hollywood Bowl on Saturday, Aug. 22, singer-guitarist Dave Grohl…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2644,48,52,51,47,50,49,6998,420],"class_list":["post-441496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-concerts","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-music-concerts","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441496","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=441496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}