Foo Fighters give rare performance of 'New Way Home,' introduce new drummer at DC concert

WASHINGTON – It wasn’t until the final quartet of songs that Dave Grohl mentioned Taylor Hawkins.

For two and a half hours, the Foo Fighters thundered and sweated through a 22-song set list, most of them classics (“My Hero,” “Learn to Fly,” “Big Me”) and a few new heartbreakers from “But Here We Are,” the band’s first album since Hawkins’ March 2022 death, out Friday.

But Foo Fighters’ Tuesday performance was an anomaly in many ways. This was only the band’s second proper concert since reconvening without Hawkins and its location was filled with meaning for Grohl.

It was, as the vigorous frontman noted before his quiet dedication to Hawkins, “a really weird week.”

Foo Fighters christen intimate venue in DC

Foo Fighters were tapped to open The Atlantis, a snug, 450-capacity venue in D.C. built as a replica of the original 9:30 Club (also called The Atlantis when it opened in 1980), the famed venue that shares the sidewalk.

Grohl, a product of nearby Springfield, Virginia, regularly attended shows at the initial location as a teenager and recalled seeing musicians who became his “heroes.” Fittingly, punk singer Peter Stahl of Grohl’s early band, Scream, joined the Foos onstage for an opening blast of Bad Brains’ “At the Atlantis.”

Earlier Tuesday, a life-size sculpture of Grohl was unveiled – “one of the most uncomfortable experiences of my life,” he joked from the stage – and the emotional cloud that followed him through the day “surrounded by friends and family” led to him conclude “just getting up here and (performing) again” wouldn’t have happened without the support of the band’s fans.

How are Foo Fighters paying tribute to Taylor Hawkins in concert?

Coming out of Foo Fighters’ scream-filled rager “Monkey Wrench,” with a snippet of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll” tossed in to close the song, Grohl turned pensive.

“Not a day goes by that we don’t think about him,” Grohl said. “This one’s for T.”

The pretty guitar opening of “Aurora,” from Foo Fighters’ 1999 album, “There is Nothing Left to Lose,” reverberated as subdued blue and teal lights faded in and out over the song’s mesmerizing cadence.

The follow-up, the infrequently played “New Way Home” from 1997’s “The Colour and the Shape,” also felt tinged with Hawkins-related meaning with lyrics such as “I’m still trying to keep this time from running out/head down, always moving on and on.”

But regardless of specific mentions of the late drummer, the entire concert felt like a catharsis for the band.

With guitarist Chris Shiflett and keyboardist Rami Jaffee flanking Grohl on the right, guitarist Pat Smear, bassist Nate Mendel on his left and new drummer Josh Freese behind Grohl on the compact stage, the band unleashed plenty of emotion, but also appeared to thoroughly enjoy being in each other’s company.

Foo Fighters introduce new drummer Josh Freese

Grohl was in his usual state of shaggy, his long dark locks matted with perspiration before he finished slamming through the opening “This is a Call,” the first of many aggressive rockers to dot the hits-filled set.

Freese, a veteran of bands including The Vandals and Nine Inch Nails, is a locomotive slinger whose muscular drumming bulldozed with a nonstop blitz during “Learn to Fly” and a ricocheting snare drum throughout “All My Life.”

Grohl’s daughter, Violet, 17, joined her dad with her own robust vocals on “Shame Shame,” one of the slinkier songs in the Foos catalog.

“She makes everything better,” a proud Grohl said, smiling at his progeny.

Are the Foo Fighters’ new songs about Taylor Hawkins?

The band’s 11th studio album arrives with 10 songs almost expressly about loss, grieving and the struggle to move on.

“Under You,” Grohl’s most blatant love letter to Hawkins, soared with its inspired pop chorus, while “Rescued,” which opens the album and made an early appearance at Tuesday's show, couches its pain-filled lyrics (“It came in a flash, it came out of nowhere/it happened so fast, and then it was over”) in a pillow-y melody.

As the band prepares for a full-fledged tour kicking off in mid-June – including high-profile slots at Bonnaroo June 18 and Riot Fest in Chicago Sept. 15 – they will undoubtedly sprinkle in more songs from the memorable and meaningful “But Here We Are.”

Prepare for a visceral performance with the purpose of release as Foo Fighters continue to edge down their new path.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Foo Fighters honor Taylor Hawkins at opening night of DC venue