It｡ﾇs a debatable point, but many Foo Fighters fans are of the opinion that they haven｡ﾇt really surpassed ｡ﾈThe Color And The Shape, their second album, but it isn｡ﾇt really an issue at an event like Fuji Rock. This is a renowned live act, and the sense of expectation before the gig was palpable.

Having listened to In Your Honor, the new Foo Fighters double album, I was wondering if they would be attempting any of the acoustic songs. As just about everyone I spoke to beforehand predicted, there wasn｡ﾇt a hint of it.

Coldplay were immediately before the foo fighters in the running order, and while they provided some nice background music for the mid evening, the Foo Fighters were a different kettle of ball games. As was to be expected really, it was 200% power rock from the start.

One of the many classics of The Color And the Shape to put in an appearance was ｡ﾈMy Hero｡ﾉ. Coldplay had made repeated references to the fact that they were lower down the order than the Foo Fighters, obviously not impressed by it, so it was only fair that shortly after this Dave Growl dedicated a song to Coldplay (because I LOVE Coldplay), and they steamed into ｡ﾈBest of You｡ﾉ, off the new album.

Grohl let us all know that this was his fourth visit to Fuji rock, and that every time he appears ｡ﾈit fucking rains｡ﾉ. So I think his thanks for the fans for sticking around through the bad weather was genuine. It was also good to hear him doing his bit to get the Japanese birth-rate up a bit. ｡ﾈThis is a love song dedicated to all you Japanese lovers. So when we｡ﾇre finished here I want you to go back to your tent, have a cold beer, and make sweet luuuuuurve.｡ﾉ

Then he slightly lost his mind and went walkabout in the crowd, getting to the field centre mixing shed and further. A good 100 yards I reckon, and it inspired some fairly yampy behaviour from the onlookers.

Although they didn｡ﾇt do any of the acoustic songs from the new album, Dave Grohl did deliver a very alternative version of ｡ﾈEverlong｡ﾉ. Just him on the guitar, giving it a totally different feel to the album version. I thought it worked really well.

But the respite was only brief, the band immediately tearing into ｡ﾈMonkey Wrench｡ﾉ to get things back to normal. The encore was sort of interesting. Drummer Taylor Hawkins switching temporarily to guitar and Grohl reliving his Nirvana, days, or maybe trying to claim that the Queens of the Stone Age｡ﾉ did put in a sort of appearance, by filling in on drums.

A highly enjoyable action packed set.