{"id":410355,"date":"2026-01-16T06:43:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:43:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/410355\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T06:43:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T06:43:12","slug":"foo-fighters-play-benefit-show-at-kia-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/410355\/","title":{"rendered":"Foo Fighters Play Benefit Show at Kia Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Foo Fighters<\/a> celebrated Dave Grohl\u2019s 57th birthday Wednesday evening, the only way fitting for one of the world\u2019s biggest bands: With an old-fashioned rock and roll show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe don\u2019t really have much of a plan tonight,\u201d Grohl told a sold-out crowd Wednesday evening, standing on a revolving stage in the center of Los Angeles\u2019s Kia Forum. \u201cThis is loose shit. We come out and play some loose ass rock and roll. That\u2019s how we do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show \u2014 the group\u2019s first show in LA in over a year \u2014 was part-birthday-celebration part-benefit-concert, with proceeds from the evening going to Hope the Mission and Los Angeles Mission, both of which are focused on helping the homeless. <\/p>\n

\n\tFans sang happy birthday to Grohl between songs, and as Grohl introduced the band early in the set, guitarist Chris Shiflett cheekily played the riff to the Beatles\u2019 \u201cBirthday.\u201d Keyboardist Rami Jaffee played the more traditional \u201chappy birthday\u201d melody, with a couple of roadies bringing out a cake onstage as well.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe show was about what one would expect from a raucous Foo Fighters concert, a two-and-a-half-hour, high-octane, high-volume sprint. Grohl screamed, screeched and ran all around the stage, the guitars filled the arena with feedback noises, and the band hosted a temple of rock worship. At one point during \u201cNo Son of Mine,\u201d they broke into a brief interlude of Motorhead\u2019s thrashing metal classic \u201cAce of Spades,\u201d with Grohl exclaiming \u201cthat\u2019s for Lemmy\u201d immediately afterward. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe concert came a week after the band revealed that guitarist Pat Smear had broken his foot<\/a> and would miss some upcoming shows. Filling in for him Wednesday night was Beck and Saint Vincent guitarist Jason Falkner, who seemed to fill in seamlessly with the group for the night. Even in his absence, Smear\u2019s presence was felt both figuratively and literally, as his face was the image on drummer Ilan Rubin\u2019s drum kit. The band dedicated their first song of the night to Smear, opening the show with \u201cMy Hero.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou know that motherfucker\u2019s watching,\u201d Grohl said after finishing the track. Fitting to his foot injury, later in the evening they dedicated the song \u201cWalk\u201d to Smear as well, extra poignant as Grohl sang the chorus of \u201clearning to walk again.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tWednesday marked the band\u2019s first time at the Kia Forum since the venue hosted the Foo Fighters\u2019 tribute to late drummer Taylor Hawkins back in 2022, something Grohl acknowledged before paying homage to his bandmate again with a solo performance of \u201cUnder You\u201d while the rest of the band walked off stage. <\/p>\n

The Forum<\/a> gig was also the Foo Fighters\u2019 first show in L.A. since Rubin took over as the band\u2019s newest drummer,<\/a> replacing Josh Freese. <\/a>Rubin got to showcase his chops throughout the night, including during a few extended instrumental jams and in a beautifully frenzied drum solo capping the band\u2019s performance of the hit \u201cMonkey Wrench.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGrohl seemed contemplative Wednesday night, thanking his band, family and extended crew several times during the show, celebrating 30 years of Foo Fighters concerts. <\/p>\n

\n\tJust before the encore, the band finished with classic \u201cBest of You,\u201d only making it halfway to the backstage area before coming back for two more songs. \u201cAt my age, that\u2019s a long fucking walk,\u201d Grohl joked as the band all climbed back up to the stage. <\/p>\n

\n\tThey started the encore with \u201cExhausted,\u201d the final song off the group\u2019s 1995 eponymous first album, and finished on a classic, ending the night with signature song \u201cEverlong.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tWith the one-off show done, the band will play again next week at UTAS Stadium in Australia, before coming back stateside at Welcome to Rockville in Florida in May.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Foo Fighters celebrated Dave Grohl\u2019s 57th birthday Wednesday evening, the only way fitting for one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":410356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,37890,216,196973],"class_list":{"0":"post-410355","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-foo-fighters","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-the-forum"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=410355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/410355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/410356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=410355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=410355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=410355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}