That time the Foo Fighters turned into bar band the Holy Shits and raunched out on early Van Halen

By Steve Newton

Back on June 20, 2014, any hardcore ’70s-rock fans in attendance at the Firefly Festival in Dover, Delaware, got a special treat when the Foo Fighters went back in time to raunch out a bit.

“Lemme tell ya something,” said Dave Grohl near the end of his band’s headlining set, “we’re gonna do somethin’ we have never done before. I tell you what. I love rock and roll just as much as the next guy. Maybe even fuckin’ more than the next guy.

“I love bein’ in the Foo Fighters, but tonight, for the next four or five songs, we’re a fuckin’ bar band called the Holy Shits that plays fuckin’ classic rock songs. What about that shit?!”

Then he led his group in a set that included Alice Cooper‘s “School’s Out”, the Stones’ “Miss You”, the Bowie/Queen collaboration “Under Pressure”, and, best of all, Van Halen’s 1978 barnburner “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love”.

Drummer Taylor Hawkins sang lead on the latter track and–even while pounding it out on the skins–sounded better than Diamond Dave the last time VH was in town.

Too bad the Foos didn’t have the foresight to include their version of Thin Lizzy’s “Bad Reputation”. Hey Dave: “What about that shit?!”

To hear the full audio of my 1995 interview with Alex Van Halen–and my interviews with David Lee Roth from 1994 and 2003–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can also eavesdrop on over 400 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with the legends of rock since 1982.