Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany
23rd August 2011
Foo Fighters & Cherri Bomb
After several days of rain and thunderstorms in the night, summer arrived finally in full delivering more than 30 degrees on that Tuesday evening - luckily the venue was air-conditioned. After introducing the current album on a small radio concert for 600 people in Cologne in spring, the band now is back in town to rock the big, sold-out Lanxess arena where about 15,000 people came to watch the show of FOO FIGHTERS’ “Wasting Light Tour”. Due to the weather, lots of people were enjoying drinks outside the venue while the support CHERRI BOMB was going to enter the stage…
Cherri Bomb
All girl rock band CHERRI BOMB from Los Angeles was going to open the evening for FOO FIGHTERS. Touted as “Rock's New Generation”, the band has already shared the stage with such bands as FILTER, super group CAMP FREDDY or with the SMASHING PUMPKINS. Being already called one of the hottest up-and-coming bands to come out of L.A., the band played some of the biggest European festivals (Oxegen, Sonisphere, T in the Park, Reading and Leeds) as well and was releasing the EP ‘Stark’ in July. CHERRI BOMB is Julia (guitar), Nia (drums), Miranda (guitar) and Rena (bass). http://www.cherribombband.com/ / https://www.facebook.com/cherribombband
Music & Performance
After reading the praises of the band before, my expectations were quite high. To be honest, they were not fulfilled at all. First of all, the girls impressed more with their look than with their music. Four visually attractive girls, representing 4 different styles, offering something for everyone: There was Nia, the red haired wild beast behind the drums, just wearing a bra. We got blonde sugar babe Miranda on guitar, tough black haired singer/guitarist Julia and last but not least crazy Rena with her colourful dreads on bass, playing the cool one, chewing gum and posing on the catwalk. The show itself was not convincing so far, it looked like they try to offer all possible rock star poses, but it id not look professional yet. Also Julia’s voice did not sound perfect, even though the rough Rock’n’Roll songs could offer something. Playing songs like ‘Already Dead’ or ‘Spin’ from the only released EP ‘Stark’, the 35 minutes lasting set ended after nine songs with ‘Let it go’.
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 6
Sound: 6
Light: 7
Total: 6.2 / 10
Foo Fighters
American alternative rock band FOO FIGHTERS was founded 1994 by NIRVANA drummer Dave Grohl, first as solo project after the sudden death of his former band. During their career, the band has released seven studio albums, ‘Wasting Light’ being the latest one out in 2011. All six previous albums were nominated for the Grammy Awards, three of them won the Grammy for “Best Rock Album”. FOO FIGHTERS are Dave Grohl (vocals, guitar, keyboard), Nate Mendel (E-Bass), Taylor Hawkins (drums, percussion, vocals), Chris Shiflett (guitar, vocals) and Pat Smear (guitar, vocals). http://www.foofighters.com/de / http://www.myspace.com/foofighters / https://www.facebook.com/foofighters
Music & Performance
It was 21:10 when Dave Grohl and his FOO FIGHTERS entered the stage and started a Rock’n’Roll celebration par excellence, lasting for nearly 2hrs 20min. Starting up with two songs from the latest album, ‘Bridge Burning’ and ‘Rope’, third song was already great hit ‘The Pretender’ when Dave stormed the long catwalk, reaching nearly until the back of the infield, and driving the audience crazy. 42 year old Grohl indeed has a charisma infecting anyone in the hall. There was not a big stage setup, just some moving LED constructions and during some songs a velvet curtain in the back, but the b and does not need this. Just the musicians and their instruments, that’s enough. And as Grohl said during the show, they still make real music with real instruments and no computer, even being in the business for 17 years now. Might it be the heavy rock songs or the more gentle ones, the band impressed with every one. Sadly, the sound was not really perfect where I was standing, in the back of the infield, and I had a lot of echoes where the lyrics were hard to understand. Of course, obligatory band introduction was not missed and anyone of the band had his private minutes of fame when playing a little solo. 
After nearly two hours and nineteen songs, the band left the stage, being recalled by huge applause. Four more songs were given - ‘Wheels’ and ‘Times like these’ as “Dave Grohl One-Man-Show” while classic ‘Everlong’ marking the end of the show, leaving just a lonely resounding guitar on stage. FOO FIGHTERS really rocked the house, leaving happy faces all around.
Setlist
01. Bridge Burning
02. Rope
03. The Pretender
04. My Hero
05. Learn to Fly
06. White Limo
07. Arlandria
08. Breakout
09. Cold Day in the Sun
10. Long Road to Ruin
11. Stacked Actors
12. Walk
13. Generator
14. Monkey Wrench
15. Let It Die
16. These Days
17. Skin and Bones
18. Best of You
19. All My Life
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20. Wheels
21. Times Like These
22. Young Man Blues (Mose Allison cover)
23. Everlong
Rating
Music: 9
Performance: 9
Sound: 7
Light: 8
Total: 8.5 / 10
All pictures by Daniela Vorndran (http://www.vorndranphotography.com / http://www.black-cat-net.de/ / www.myspace.com/vorndranphotography / www.facebook.com/blackcatnet)
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