A sea of screaming fans filled U.S. Bank Arena on Friday night to see one of the biggest rock-n-roll bands of this era play in Cincinnati after not playing in the Queen City for 20 years.

The Foo Fighters, who are on tour promoting their ninth LP “Concrete and Gold,” opened the show with the headbanger “Run.” They play like legends, call out audience members, and play a song from every single album. Twenty-seven songs were played during the three-hour show. In 1997 they only played 18. The first hour and a half of the show were back-to-back fan favorite songs such as “All My Life,” “Learn to Fly,” and “The Pretender.”

Grohl then went straight to talk about great rock stars from Ohio including Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders and Grohl himself.

The band played songs from every single album including their 1995 self-titled debut. Most Foo Fighter fans would know that the band do not just play the fan favorites. After an hour of non-stop music, Grohl called out random fans. He called out a fan in the front row who wanted to chat in the middle of the show and take a selfie. Instead of doing all that, he just played her “Times Like These.”

Throughout the whole show, the audience really connected with the band by clapping, head bobbing, and singing to almost every song. The pounding drums, heavy guitar riffs, the trippy strobe lights, the wide vocal range, and passionate solos really made the whole show exhilarating and worth standing up for three hours.

During “Rope,” drummer Taylor Hawkins’, the stage elevated and played an incredible solo. Grohl later jumped in. The chemistry between the two was evident and just blew the crowd away. From “Rope,” they went straight into “Sunday Rain” with Hawkins on drums/lead vocals.

Grohl then started talking to the audience about how he was in a car accident in Seattle and when he was taken to the hospital, the doctor asked him what day it was and he said, “I’m a musician motherf*cker!” So then the band went on to play “Skin and Bones.” During the song, newest keyboardist, Rami Jaffee, played a solo on the accordion. That is right, an accordion at a rock show. Oddly enough, it completely fit.

During the show, the audience screamed so loudly that at certain points Grohl could not finish the song or even talk. The band claimed that Cincinnati was their loudest city yet and that they would have to come back to the city once every couple of years instead of 20. Compared to their show in Knoxville, TN, the fans there were “sleepy,” said Grohl. He also claimed that there was no alcohol at the venue. The thousands of Ohioans were screaming, bobbing their heads, jumping around, and just jamming out the entire show.

Grohl’s vocal range went from super soft to hardcore metal all within one song–keep in mind this was almost every single song. One of the key factors of adding that soothing touch to “The Sky Is a Neighborhood,” “Make It Right” and “Dirty Water” were the three female backup singers who are on the latest album. This stadium band knows how to keep the crowd excited at every single show by illustrating their passion and by surprising their fans.  

While introducing the band, the members played mini covers. Some include “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones, “Fly Like an Eagle” by The Steve Miller Band [a song that they learned to play two hours before the show] and “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen.

After all the Grohl’s screaming and head bobbing, it was not until 5 minutes after they sang “Best of You” that the band came out with an encore. They started the encore with a “Concrete and Gold” song, “Dirty Water.” October 20, in rock-n-roll, would not be complete without honoring the late Tom Petty on his birthday.

Right before the band played a cover of “Break Down,” Grohl talked about the time he played for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for one week when he was 25-years-old.

After three hours, the audience sang along to the closer “Everlong.” It was the perfect ending to such a magical night. Even though The Foo Fighters have been a band for over two decades, they easily could play for another two more. They played with so much passion and soaked up every single minute of their three-hour show.

Setlist:
Run
All My Life
Learn to Fly
The Pretender
The Sky Is a Neighborhood
Walk
Rope
Sunday Rain
My Hero
These Days
Let It Die
I'll Stick Around
White Limo
Arlandria
Times Like These
Breakout
Make It Right
Skin and Bones
Fly Like an Eagle (with band intros)
(Steve Miller Band cover)
Another One Bites the Dust (with commentary and "giant Nate heads")
(Queen cover)
Blitzkrieg Bop
(Ramones cover)
Monkey Wrench
Best of You

Encore:
Dirty Water
This is a call
Breakdown
(Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover)
Everlong