Foo Fighters play small surprise gig with new drummer Ilan Rubin
Foo Fighters have officially played their first show with their new drummer, Ilan Rubin, after taking a year away from live performances.
Earlier this summer, the band hit the headlines for ostensibly swapping their drummer, Josh Freese, with the Nine Inch Nails touring drummer, Ilan Rubin.
Freese announced his firing in May, revealing he received a call from the band, who explained they wanted “to go in a different direction with their drummer”.
According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician, this left him “a bit shocked and disappointed”.
Foo Fighters have not played a live performance as a band for the last year, though Dave Grohl had made several solo appearances, such as joining Kim Deal on stage in London to play ‘Gigantic’.
On September 13th, Foo Fighters took to Instagram to reveal that they would be playing a small gig at the Fremont Theater in San Luis Obispo, California. The venue can hold only 900 people.
Tickets for the show were only available for purchase in person. Fans were required to go to the venue’s box office from 8am on the day of the show to be in with a chance of a ticket.
Addressing the crowd during the show, Dave Grohl publicly confirmed Rubin’s place in the band for the first time. He shared gleefully: “Everybody else has said it, I finally get the opportunity to say, ladies and gentlemen, will you please welcome, the most badass motherfucker, Ilan Rubin, is playing drums in the Foo Fighters. It’s official.”
The set opened with ‘All My LIfe’ and spun through 25 tracks in total, including ‘Have It All’ which the band had not played live since 2015. They opened the encore with ‘Alone + Easy Target’ for the first time since 2018, and soared through penultimate offering, ‘Exhausted’, for the first time since 2014. As expected, they finished the monumental set with ‘Everlong’.
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