Foo Fighters cover Nine Inch Nails song ‘March of the Pigs’
As Foo Fighters prepare to release their latest album But Here We Are, they surprised fans this past weekend with a cover of Nine Inch Nails. During their performance at the Sonic Temple Festival, they busted into a cover of ‘March of the Pigs’.
Taken from the group’s second record The Downward Spiral, ‘Pigs’ has been a staple of Trent Reznor’s catalogue since its release, including some of the biggest shows of his career featuring that song on the setlist. The show also marked one of the first handful of shows that Foo Fighters have played with new drummer Josh Freese, taking over for Taylor Hawkins.
Included as part of a medley of songs, the band also played through a variety of rock songs such as Devo’s ‘Whip It’. Freese had originally been an in-demand session musician before getting the call and had played with the likes of both Devo and Nine Inch Nails beforehand.
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl had also been close with Nine Inch Nails, having played on a few songs from the album With Teeth. Freese was also one of the many drummers featured during the tribute concert for Hawkins at Wembley Stadium, which also included Blink-182’s Travis Barker and Hawkins’s son Shane.
Hawkins had passed away last year. In anticipation for the album this year, Grohl also mentioned the upcoming songs being a homage to the memory of Hawkins and his mother who passed away last year.
The band also featured a quick skit video released online comically showing Freese’s first rehearsals. As legendary drummers like Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee and Tool’s Danny Carey arrive as potential replacements, Freese asks for everyone to stop talking so the group can play a couple songs.
Sonic Temple os one of the first of many major venues Foo Fighters will be headlining across the summer, including a return to Austin City Limits after numerous performances on the stage and using it to record a song for their album Sonic Highways. But Here We Are arrives on June 2nd.
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