Foo Fighters — Live At Wembley Stadium

Live At Wembley Stadium

RCA/Sony BMG

Kate Harper (CHARTattack)

11/28/2008 4:43pm

One day when we turn on classic rock radio (or the equivalent thereof), the Foo Fighters will be playing, and it's pretty clear that they want to go down in the rock history books that way. This DVD was shot at London, England's Wembley Stadium on a night in June when the Foos played to about 86,000 people. The setlist is stacked full of hits (none of which are from their self-titled debut, unfortunately) and several numbers, like "Stacked Actors" in particular, are filled with elongated passages and extended solos. Taylor Hawkins' drum solo on that track is probably the most unnecessary thing the Foos have ever done, but it's done to show off his virtuosity, which was what the rockers of 30 years ago were all about. If you want further evidence that the Foos want to be the next classic rock heirs, look no further than the appearance of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, who join the band to play covers of Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll" and "Ramble On" during the encore. Sure, you could argue the Foos are pretty much drunken frat boy rock, and there's very little that's remarkable about this DVD, but they can put on one hell of a show (despite Dave Grohl's burping into the mic — ew), and you can't help but feel it's genuine, since they're so goddamn earnest about everything. When Grohl announces the performance is "the best fucking day of my entire life" after playing with Page and Jones, you know he isn't kidding. Watching this is watching a milestone in Grohl's career.