Watch Foo Fighters debut four new songs and new live drummer as they kick off 2023 comeback tour

NME

Foo Fighters played their first full concert of 2023 last night, featuring new drummer Josh Freese. Check out the full setlist and footage below.

• READ MORE: Inside the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert: “A gigantic fucking night for a gigantic fucking person”

The gig took place in Gilford, New Hampshire yesterday (Wednesday May 24), and served as a warm-up gig ahead of the band’s list of upcoming headline shows and festival appearances, set for later this summer.

It also marked the rock veteran’s first public gig with newly-announced drummer Josh Freese (Paramore, Weezer, Nine Inch Nails), who took on the role following the passing of Taylor Hawkins last year.

Towards the start of the show, frontman Dave Grohl took a moment to introduce the new member to the audience, and showed his appreciation for him helping the band perform. “Can everybody…. Would you please welcome the man behind the drums, Josh Freese,” he said among the cheers from the crowd. “We would not be here tonight if it weren’t for Josh so, everybody give Josh a big fucking round of applause.”

Not only did the band kick off their mammoth 21-song setlist with the live debut of their comeback single ‘Rescued’ — taken from their upcoming album ‘But Here We Are’ — they also teased fans with previews of three more of their new songs: ‘Under You’, ‘Nothing At All’ and the record’s title track.

Other highlights of the show included renditions of numerous of their fan-favourites, including ‘Everlong’, ‘The Pretender’, ‘Learn To Fly’ and ‘My Hero’, as well as the guest cameo of Dave Grohl’s daughter, Violet, who joined the band for a performance of their 2020 track ‘Shame Shame’.

Check out the full setlist for the show below, along with some fan-captured footage.

Foo Fighters played: 

1. ‘Rescued’ (live debut)
2. ‘Walk’
3. ‘No Son of Mine’ (featured a reference to Black Sabbath’s ‘Paranoid’)
4. ‘Learn to Fly’
5. ‘Times Like These’
6. ‘Under You’ (live debut)
7. ‘The Pretender’
8. ‘But Here We Are’ (live debut)
9. ‘Breakout’
10. ‘The Sky Is a Neighborhood’
11. ‘My Hero’
12. ‘This Is a Call’
13. ‘All My Life’
14. ‘Nothing at All’ (live debut)
15. ‘Shame Shame’ (with Violet Grohl)
16. ‘These Days’
17. ‘Cold Day in the Sun’ (First time since 2018)
18. ‘Monkey Wrench’
19. ‘Best of You’
20. ‘Aurora’
21. ‘Everlong’

A number of the new songs were also aired during their livestream earlier this week. Check out footage from those below.

Next, Foo Fighters will head to Massachusetts to headline Boston Calling this weekend. They’re also set to perform at numerous other festivals this summer, including Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, Riot Fest and Louder Than Life.

A series of headline shows are also scheduled for this summer, and will all take place across North America with support coming from The Breeders (remaining tickets are available here). Grohl also teased fans earlier this month by confirming that a string of UK live shows are set to be announced soon.

Set for release on June 2, ‘But Here We Are’ will be the 11th studio album to be released from the band, as is described as the “first chapter” of their new life and “a brutally honest and emotionally raw response to everything [the band] endured over the last year” as “a testament to the healing powers of music, friendship and family”. Pre-order the album here.

It also marks the first in over two decades to be recorded without their longtime drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died while the band were on tour in Columbia last year. He was aged 50. While Freese was announced as their newest member, the drums on the upcoming LP were recorded by Grohl.

The rockers announced that they would be continuing to release new music without Hawkins earlier this year. “Foo Fighters were formed 27 years ago to represent the healing power of music and a continuation of life,” they wrote in the announcement. “And for the past 27 years our fans have built a worldwide community, a devoted support system that has helped us all get through the darkest of times together. A place to share our joy and our pain, our hopes and fears, and to join in a chorus of life together through music.

“Without Taylor, we never would have become the band that we were – and without Taylor, we know that we’re going to be a different band going forward.”

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