Photo: Aaron Sammut

The 5’1” American virtuoso guitarist Kaki King creates luscious walls of sound with an electric, then acoustic and finally pedal steel guitar. Her 20 minute set is gorgeous – but probably the maximum this particular crowd is willing to accommodate.

Between the hastily spray painted banner and Cec Condon’s first words of “C***, I love you mum”, The Mess Hall create the most effective introduction since 20th Century Fox’s opening theme. The ferocity they bring to City Of Roses and Keep Walking after multiple tours is a fascinating sight, as they still leave sweat-drenched after another short set.

And then the main event: the ambient synthesizer of Let It Die, as The Foo Fighters take their positions and Mr Dave Grohl beckons the crowd to lose their mind. Everything contained in this arena allows Grohl to unleash the ‘70s rock god from within, from the runway platform to the shifting projection screens and an extended band including a cellist and prodigal Foo Pat Smear. Dave’s penchant for yelling “Yeah!” and handclapping may grow tiresome, but here it’s genuine enthusiasm, not rock star swagger. Learn To Fly is sped through as a concession to the Triple M crowd, while Stacked Actors is given the love and care it deserves, dynamic changes, instrumental breakdowns and all.

Oh, and then a stage descends from the roof into the middle of the floor as the extended band meet for a semi-acoustic session in the round. It’s so wanktastic that it’s brilliant, as My Hero reaches new Springsteen levels of bombast. Kaki King returns to help out on The Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners before the core quartet blast out Monkey Wrench as a possible finale. Not so, as they momentarily disappear and return for a gargantuan seven song encore. Best Of You ends the night with Grohl in a hoarse whisper after almost 150 minutes, but few would leave feeling cheated as these Californians stumble offstage displaying all the goodness of stadium rock without the U2 preachiness or Bon Jovi bravado.

MITCH ALEXANDER

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