REVIEW: Foo Fighters performance in Cincinnati was solid. New Icon Music center? Needs work.
The Foo Fighters show Wednesday night was a civic achievement and a pandemic milestone: the first concert at a brand-new riverfront venue, and a sold-out one. Eight-thousand souls standing shoulder-to-shoulder at a rock show, as if it were 2019.
As for the concert experience? It wasn’t for everyone, literally speaking.
This wasn’t the fault of the Foo Fighters, who did their part by taking the stage at 8:36 p.m., omitting an encore break, and playing straight through and nonstop to the 11 o’clock curfew.
It’s just that not everyone could see the proceedings very well, or hear them well, either. Maybe they could smell them, though.
“This is a new place, right?” asked Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. “It’s got that new-gig smell. It smells like plastic and weed.”
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The Foo Fighters normally play arenas. They played Madison Square Garden last month. Booking the outdoor stage at the new Andrew J. Brady Icon Music Center is a big underplay for the band. The show was a quick sellout. The people standing to the back and the sides of the space might say that too many tickets were sold. It was difficult to see the band any way other than standing on the fake grass in front of the stage. And there were no video screens to augment the views, save one behind the band.
Sound coverage, too, was benefitting the center of the house and ignoring the sides.
Moving forward, it will be interesting to see if the venue operators address some of the sound and sightline challenges. Maybe they’ll decide to lower capacity to give each ticket holder a better chance at seeing the show. Or maybe the Icon will just be one of those general-admission rooms where the ticket holder should prepare themselves to fight for a good piece of turf.
Those who arrived early to claim a good spot saw a fun, loose show. Not that their recent entrance into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame changed the way they conduct business, but the Foo Fighters came across like a band that has nothing to prove, or maybe they’re just a band intent on entertaining itself. Either way, it kept the fans entertained in the process. The drummer, Taylor Hawkins, came forward to sing a song by Queen while Grohl took over on drums. They did not one but two Bee Gees songs. Why? Because Grohl wanted to showcase his falsetto?
Grohl acknowledged the passing of Dusty Hill, and the band jammed on some ZZ Top snippets in tribute.
As for the Foo Fighters’ own recorded catalog, they flashed a little of everything: old and new, hits and album tracks, straightforward performances and overcooked arrangements. Apparently a more melodramatic fellow than one might imagine, Grohl had this thing for starting off songs – like “My Hero” and “Times Like These” – in a slow, stripped-down fashion and building it to a big finish. Grohl really leaned into the lyrics in the latter, making sure the crowd picked up on its timely sentiment.
The band was more compelling when functioning as a full-on rock unit, whether on the late-period Led Zeppelin-sounding funk-rock riffage of “Rope” or a familiar one to close out the show, “Everlong.”
During band introductions, Grohl said his daughter, Violet, was a backup singer, identifying her as the one wearing a spiked necklace. Those of us who could not see Violet’s portion of the stage from our position in the audience will take his word for it.
Note: The Foo Fighters show was the first at the Icon's outdoor Festival Stage. The first indoor show at Icon was Kem with special guest Leela James last week. See pictures from that show below.
