NME Festival Guide 2005
Says Dave Grohl - and he should know. This year will be his fifth time and, he reckons, the best yet. Flying piss notwithstanding...
This summer you're playing Reading and Leeds
and also T In The Park. What can people expect
from the Foo Fighters this time round?
Dave: "People can expect volume. A big.
loud, bright fucking rock'n'roll singalong. And we're
going to do things a little differently
this time. Last time out, we
opened with All My Life',
which was such a fucking no-brainer, because it worked every single night. We had the Jaws music (intro tape) going and it was
just ideal. This time people can expect a lot
of new material and an opening song that makes
'All My Life' sound like The Carpenters. And that is
a promise."
What other artists are you looking forward to
seeing at Reading and Leeds?
Dave: "Well, all these bands tend to do the festival
run through Europe, so we tend to see each other
all over the continent I know Queens Of The Stone
Age are playing, so it'll be great to hook up with
them. I'm looking forward to seeing the Kaiser
Chiefs. But, see, thing is it all depends on what
time slot you get as to what bands you get to see,
because being in a band on the bill is not the same
as being in the crowd. So why don't I be diplomatic
and say I'm looking forward to having a beer with
each and every artist who's playing?"
Taylor: "I call Dave the
Ambassador Of Rock because he will have a drink
with absolutely anyone backstage. The worst band
in the world? No problem, Dave will have a drink
with them."
What was the first festival you appeared at?
Dave: "That would have been the Pink Pop festival
in Belgium. Nirvana played it, at about 11 o'clock in
the morning. We were on just before Ride, and on
the day we played the Ramones were headlining.
I remember being in the photographers' pit
watching the Ramones play their whole set Frank
Black was also on the bill, playing these huge
festivals with just him and an acoustic guitar.
  "Now, at the catering tent, each table was
allocated to a particular artist, and they had
name cards on the table for each of the bands.
So the Ramones' table was about 12 chairs, and
Frank Black's table only had a couple of seats on
it because there weren't many people with him.
So what we did was swap the name cards round.
I remember going in to the catering tent later
that day and seeing Frank on this huge table
and then seeing the Ramones squished up in
the comer, with half of them having to stand
up. It was pretty funny."
What's the best way of avoiding a bottle of piss?
Taylor Hawkins: "Keep your fucking eyes open,
man. Oh, and don't be the lead singer."
Dave: "To generate a bottle of piss you
have to pull your cock out and piss at the same time as being crammed up against
40,000 other men. That does not sound like my
idea of fun.
  "However, as a band playing here's how you avoid
the bottle of piss. You have to play so well that the
audience rushes to the front - I said rushes, kids,
not crushes - so that the only person who's going
to have the spatial availability to fill up a bottle
with pee is 700 yards away. And no matter how
good a shot that person happens to be, there is no
way he's going to hit us from 700 yards."
What's your most striking festival memory?
Dave: "This isn't quite the happy answer that you
might be looking for, but the thing I always take with me is standing at
the edge of the stage and seeing a sea of 50,000
people, and at the front of that sea you have the
security guys pulling limp bodies over the barriers
That's something you tend not to forget. It is so
horrible. You're so excited about playing, and
then you look down and see that and it throws
everything into confusion.
  "If things get out of control, you have to stop. And
you have to keep your eyes on the security people
because they will give you the (hand across the
throat) signal if things are getting out of control.
And then you fucking have to stop. It's as simple
as that..."
As festival veterans, would you care to share
any embarrassing stories you may have
with our readers?
Dave: "Oh, OK then. The time when we played the:
V Festival in 1997 is my most embarrassing story.
I used to chew gum onstage and I had just put a
fresh piece of gum in my mouth. After a few songs
the fucking sticky sugary stuff from my chewing
gum was all over my microphone, and it was a hot
summer day.
"Now, there was this bee that was flying around
my head and landing on the microphone, and it
kept landing in the sugary stuff. Every time I'd
go to sing I'd have to try and swat it away and the
thing wouldn't leave the mic. I just could not get
rid of this fucking bee. I'm serious, the thing was
really persistent. And it actually got to the point
where I had to stop and tell the audience, 'Look, I'm
really sorry but there's a bee on my microphone."
How did they greet this news?
"To be honest, I don't think they really cared. They
kind of cheered in a really half-hearted fashion.
It was totally embarrassing."
Words: Ian Winwood