Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has penned an op-ed for The Atlantic titled “The Day the Live Concert Returns.” The piece is a tribute to concert-going, examining the communal experience between musicians and their audiences. “In today’s world of fear and unease and social distancing,” Grohl writes, “it’s hard to imagine sharing experiences like these ever again. I don’t know when it will be safe to return to singing arm in arm at the top of our lungs, hearts racing, bodies moving, souls bursting with life. But I do know that we will do it again, because we have to.” Read his full article at The Atlantic.
Elsewhere in the op-ed, Grohl remembers specific, impactful concerts he’s attended, such as an intimate U2 gig from their 2001 Elevation Tour. He also recalls a time Bruce Springsteen attended a Foo Fighters concert, later writing a note to Grohl on hotel stationery about the importance of the band-audience relationship. “When you look out at the audience,” Springsteen wrote to Grohl, “you should see yourself in them, just as they should see themselves in you.”
Grohl also writes that “unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has reduced today’s live music to unflattering little windows that look like doorbell security footage and sound like Neil Armstrong’s distorted transmissions from the moon, so stuttered and compressed.” Adding: “Don’t get me wrong… I know that those of us who don’t have to work in hospitals or deliver packages are the lucky ones, but still, I’m hungry for a big old plate of sweaty, ear-shredding, live rock and roll, ASAP. The kind that makes your heart race, your body move, and your soul stir with passion.”
Back in March, Grohl launched Dave’s True Stories, a new Instagram account to share short anecdotes from his life.
Read Pitchfork’s Overtones feature “An Ode to Live Music in a Time of Silence.”