Music | Foo Fighters | Fiddler's Green Amphitheatre | August 16 | Review and Photos

View fullsize

View fullsize

View fullsize

Dear Dave,

Let me first start off by saying that I applaud you for not canceling your current tour in regard to you breaking your leg a couple month ago in Sweden. Now most bands would have easily scrapped their foreseeable tour dates, you did not. In fact you came up with a plan to have a throne built to accommodate you and your broken limb. Who does that? Only one of the most respected musicians alive today, that's who. I had a chance to see you a couple years ago in Texas during SXSW while you were promoting Sound City (is everything you touch turn to gold?). I was lucky enough to be chosen in a lottery to see you perform with some of the best musicians on the planet. The Sound City Players as they were called played an epic three hour plus set. Joining you were names like John Fogerty(CCR), Rick Springfield, Corey Taylor (Slipknot, Stone Sour), Stevie Nicks (Fleetwood Mac), Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine), Chris Goss (Masters of Reality), Lee Ving (Fear) and Kris Novoselic and Pat Smear (Nirvana and Foo Fighters). In fact it was single handedly one of the best musical experiences I have ever been part of. Only somebody like you could pull bringing all those names together under the same roof. Listening to you and Nicks perform "Landslide" would give anybody chills down their spine.

You are unlike many musicians, you perform for the fans. Never have I seen anybody of your stature be so dedicated in making sure that whatever you are doing is to satisfy first and foremost those who adore you. That commands a lot of respect. You are the savior of rock and roll, the ambassador of music. A musical genius (Sound City, Sonic Highway), whose projects take on a whole different approach that satisfies your own artistic abilities. One of the best drummers in the world (Nirvana), one of the best frontman's in the world (Foo Fighters), a musical IQ unlike any other. You surround yourself with people who make a difference in the same manner and approach that you do. 

Last night I got a chance to photograph you and the Foo Fighters for the first time. It was my first time seeing the band live. My line of work has taken me to places I would never have dreamed of. It has given me an appreciation to capture the moments in music that we can all relive well after the fact when the show is over. A snapshot of those defining moments that will live with us forever. You played on a throne that you designed that had rotating lights, fog, lasers, strobes, guitar head stocks. You sat in that chair and rocked out for your whole set. Considering the energy and showmanship you bring on two healthy legs, I can imagine constraining yourself to this throne and not wanting to stand up (broken leg) and all and pretend nothing was wrong. You whipped your head back and forth reminding us that as long as you have two hands you can still deliver mind blowing riffs. The band was on point every step of the way. You wasted no time getting the party started yelling at the top of your lungs while still being hidden behind an enormous curtain with the all to familiar double "F" logo we have come to associate with the Foo Fighters. As the curtain dropped you went straight into "Everlong" one of the best songs ever produced. You maintained that energy as the band played through the numerous hits we have all grown up singing to word by word. The energy never stopped, heck you even made a grown man cry. It seems wherever you play you create a memorable experience for some lucky fan. You have witty and enjoyable banter in between songs, such in the case as when you introduced your bandmates accompanied by some famous rock and roll songs (see video).

You will alway be my favorite musician and having the chance to capture you behind the lens will always go down as a true memorable experience for me. Maybe one day I will get to meet you and I will thank you for inspiring me to do what I do. Tonight you guys shined! You were a bright beacon that we needed to remind us of the positivity and the power of music. Continue to do what you do and never change Mr. Grohl.

Check out our photo slideshow: Robert Castro

Foo Fighters : North American Tour 2015 Dates Announced

View fullsize

It’s official: Foo Fighters are following up the release of the band’s most ambitious album with its biggest ever North American tour to date.

In the wake of Sonic Highways’ climb into the top 3 of charts worldwide and the announcement of the band's first ever U.S. stadium dates, Foo Fighters have now unveiled a full North American stadium/arena/amphitheater assault for summer/fall 2015. This most massive North American on-the-road undertaking in FF history will see Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett and Pat Smear headline multiple historic U.S. stadiums for the first time: New York’s Citi Field on July 16, a debut doubleheader at Boston’s Fenway Park on July 18 and 19, as well as the previously announced August 29 Chicago headline at Wrigley Field that sold out in one day, and the July 4 all-day 20th anniversary blowout at DC’s RFK stadium.

Royal Blood has been confirmed to support on the July/August run of these newly added dates – with the exception of August 27 in Indianapolis and the first Fenway show on July 18, which will feature a special appearance from hometown heroes and post-punk pioneers Mission of Burma.

And there’s more… Tickets for the Foo Fighters 2015 tour (with the exception of Fenway Park) will first go on sale via the BEAT THE BOTS: BOX OFFICE ONLY PRE-SALE this Saturday at 10am. Fans sick of Scalper-BOTS programmed to clog online queues and snatch up huge amounts of tickets to resell them will get first shot at tickets to these shows. Visit http://foofighters.com for a complete list of box office locations and details.

Online Pre-Sales for Foo Fighters 2015 tour begin Monday, December 1, with general on sales commencing December 4 & 5, check your local listings.

FOO FIGHTERS NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2015
7/4/15 – Washington DC – RFK Stadium
7/6/15 – Camden, NJ – Susquehanna Bank Center *
7/9/15 – Toronto, ON – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre *
7/16/15 – New York, NY – Citi Field *
7/18/15 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park **
7/19/15 – Boston, MA – Fenway Park *
8/12/15 – Edmonton, AB – Rexall Place *
8/13/15 – Calgary, AB – Scotiabank Saddledome *
8/17/15 – Denver, CO – Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre *
8/19/15 – Maryland Heights, MO – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater *
8/21/15 – Kansas City, MO – Sprint Center *
8/22/15 – St. Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center *
8/24/15 – Detroit, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre *
8/25/15 – Pittsburgh, PA – First Niagara Pavilion *
8/27/15 – Indianapolis, IN – Klipsch Music Center
8/29/15 – Chicago, IL – Wrigley Field (SOLD OUT)
9/11/15 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
9/12/15 – George, WA – Gorge Amphitheatre
9/14/15 – Portland, OR – Moda Center
9/16/15 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre
9/21/15 – Los Angeles, CA – The Forum
9/24/15 – Anaheim, CA – Honda Center
9/25/15 – Phoenix, AZ – AK-Chin Pavilion
9/27/15 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater
9/29/15 – Oklahoma City, OK – Chesapeake Energy Arena
9/30/15 – Wichita, KS – INTRUST Bank Arena
10/4/15 – Atlanta, GA – Centennial Olympic Park
10/5/15 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
10/7/15 – Memphis, TN – FedExForum

* w/ special guest Royal Blood
** w/ special guest Mission of Burma

An Interview With Cage The Elephant

From time to time, we get the awesome opportunity to sit and chat with some amazing musicians and hear their stories. Last week I talked to Matt Shultz frontman for indie outfit Cage The Elephant, who will be here in Denver on September 17 opening for MUSE. Check out what he had to say.

Ultra5280: You have a new album on the horizon, how did the name Melophobia come about? The definition translates to "fear of music". 

Matt: It's always been there, you know there is a certain external pressure that happens to cater towards cool or to try to craft a sound that is build around one's perspective of what society's perspective might be or what is artistic or what is considered intellectual art or whatever. And so, there is this insurmountable pressure that starts to come out, I think fear is like the enemy winning when it comes to any creative works, fear and pride. It's more or less the fear of music becoming something it didn't turn out to be. There is always that battle of maintaining that innocence of creation when it comes to music. When you start making music that feeling that you get, really when it comes down to it music is a communal thing, its something you communicate. Historically your songs were about your culture. As cliche as it sounds music is a universal language, you can play a blues note and everyone knows. Thats what this record is about, we try to keep it in a learning stage.

Ultra5280: Your second album Thank You, Happy Birthday has been described as harder and much edgier, how much of that sound carried over to Melophobia? 

Matt: I would say that, more of what we love about music we try and show on each record. And so I wouldn't say that more of that showed up on this record, but more of what we like to point out as new in this record, and that is what we love. There are some tracks that I would venture to say are heavier, but there also some subtle tracks. So yeah I think it did carry over.

 Ultra5280: Discuss the clashing views of serious vs. fun music in Melophobia amongst the band and working through them? 

Matt: Well serious vs fun, I think they go hand in hand because you can't departmentalize certain emotions, we are emotional creatures and different times there are different emotions that are triggered by different experiences, but they are all part of the human experience. I don't think the difficulty between emotional stances were serious or fun, but more towards trying to cohesively marry different song escapes. Maybe reflected by different emotions, less about emotions but more about personalities. I don't look at it as emotional differences but the personalities between songs.

Ultra5280: You've talked about "filling holes" in music and the influences of Bowie and Dylan, where else does the band draw inspiration from? 

Matt:  Anything interesting I guess, my father has always been a huge influence on me.   He always stressed uniqueness, the beauty of your own self. We are influenced by films, on this record honestly we didn't listen to a lot of music, because in the past i've always felt really firm to the motto of many literature writers, which is read more way than you would write. I tried to listen to as much diverse music that I possibly could. The human mind is complex, there were times, where my mind would fill blanks with experiences and create sounds I had never heard before.

Ultra5280: You have toured with the likes of Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots and Silversun Pickups, and are about to embark on a tour with Muse, what have you learned from those bands and what advice have you received if any? 

Matt:  Passion, to be passionate and tour everything you have in to you and what you are doing. Every single person I have across that has been successful is really passionate and they pour everything they have into it. So many people look at the rock and roll cliche and they think that it's all about the girls and the drugs and the partying and all that stuff.  Hard work pays off. When you really are around people who have truly made an impact that couldn't be further from the truth. There is a common fiber that runs through the list and that is dedication and passion.

Ultra5280: Speaking of Foo Fighters tell me about the time Dave Grohl filled in on drums? 

Matt:  It was for sure, we had just gone on tour, it was the second date, and Jared went to the hospital and we are sitting here thinking the tour is over. We were trying to figure out what we were going to do and my phone rings it's an unrecognizable number, but I still answer it and low and behold it's Dave on the other line. He said so heard you guys need a drummer. He came out and played two or three sets, we rehearsed a lot, when I say rehearse I mean sound checked and he pretty much nailed it. It was one of those experiences were we are playing a show and I have to keep reminding myself we are playing a show, because all I want to do is look back at Dave and smile the whole time. He has been not only in one of the most influential bands, but several three or four.So it was an honor to have him playing with us.

Ultra5280: What's in store for the rest of 2013 and what can the fans in Denver expect on September 17? 

Matt:  I don't know, we really want to give great honest performances. We want people to hear this record, its special to us and we want it to be special to our fans. I am excited to have people hear what we have been doing. We love Denver!