Last week the Foo Fighters were playing in Toronto. At the end of the obligatory drum solo by Taylor Hawkins, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson from Rush wandered onto the stage with their instruments and launched into YYZ with Hawkins playing drums for them. The world is divided into those to whom this means nothing whatsoever and those who will think it is just the coolest thing to happen all year.
Naturally, most of the audience were filming bits of the show on mobile phones and digital video cameras so there are plenty of clips of this on YouTube. Just as naturally, most of them are unwatchable – fuzzy, jerky, or filmed from the balcony with no zoom. Other clips are only 30 seconds long so even if the quality is good it will be frustrating. This video is the best of the bunch.
It shows the end of the drum solo and all of YYZ and the quality is not too bad considering it was done with a single camera from the crowd. And it gives you something you would not get from a professional concert film – namely the crowd reaction. In this case either the cameraman or someone next to him, whose spontaneous reaction to seeing an impromptu Rush performance was simply “holy fuck!”.
To see what Dave Grohl thought about it there is this video of Dave watching from the side of the stage. Afterwards, Dave Grohl was quoted as saying that Taylor Hawkins must have “nuts the size of grapefruits” to have done it.  What? Filling in for the man many people consider to be the world’s best drummer, in the City his band come from, playing a song which is named for that city’s airport? He may have a point.
Personally I think its brave enough just being the drummer in a band led by someone who was himself a drummer in a huge band and is still in demand as a session drummer.
I’m sure that everyone who was at the show that night has not stopped going on about it all week, and who can blame them? Â Being able to see it online goes some way to making up for how wretched it is to see any sort of live show or other event these days, where everyone is waving mobile phones above their heads so you can’t actually see anything yourself except by looking at it in the screens of those mobile phones.
As the erudite Canadians within earshot say – ‘Holy f**k!’.
I’m still ytuing to get excited by Rush – but not having much joy. Maybe this will help?
Maybe. I never really heard them until last year. They passed me by (which is one reason why you never heard them sooner I guess) so I can’t place them properly or know the significance of any particular songs.
Even now I only have the greatest hits and the Live in Rio DVD. Skuds’ top tip of the day: if I want to find out about a band I go straight for a concert film instead of a CD. The Moving Pictures-era songs seem to be the most accessible to start with.
Rush had three phases really – Swords, Sorcery and Wearing kimonos to play 20-minute long tracks in the 70s, Ponytails and synth-heavy rock in the 80s (where for a distressing couple of albums they started to sound like Heart), and since then they’ve matured into cerebral, left-field heavy guitar rock. Certainly listening to Foo Fighters I get chunks of Rush off them, so it doesn’t surprise me if the Foo Fighters invite them on to their stage!
Dave does it again // Jun 8, 2008 at 8:50 pm
[…] joined the Foo Fighters on stage at the O2, in March this year it was Geddy Lee and Alex Liveson of Rush joining the Foo Fighters in Toronto to play with their drummer, last week Dave Grohl turned up to play drums and guitar for […]