Recent London show will be hard for Foo Fighters to top

When Foo Fighters open the North American leg of their world tour Wednesday at KeyArena, they cannot possibly top the last show of the European leg, two weeks ago at Wembley Stadium in London, when Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin joined them onstage.

Foo lead singer/guitarist Dave Grohl called it the greatest night in the band's life, after they performed "Rock and Roll" and "Ramble On" for a surprised and excited capacity crowd of 86,000.

Seattle fans can vicariously celebrate that triumph along with Grohl and company because of the band's strong local ties. Grohl was, of course, the drummer for Nirvana, and lived here from 1990 until 1994, when Kurt Cobain killed himself and Nirvana disbanded. He formed Foo Fighters shortly thereafter, releasing their debut album in 1995. Foo bassist Nate Mendel came from the Seattle-based band Sunny Day Real Estate. Foo Fighters are now based in Grohl's native Virginia.

The incredible Wembley show is proof of how big Foo Fighters are in England. The band's two Wembley shows attracted 172,000 fans. The group is a stadium band in Europe but still an arena band in America.

Seattle fans have had a long wait for the Foos, because they last played here almost exactly two years ago, at the Paramount. It was a sit-down, acoustic event, more like a recital than a rock concert, that the restless capacity audience didn't get into very much. The crowd seemed to like Grohl's funny, heartfelt reminiscences of living here more than it liked the mellow music. The slow performance left a longing for a real, hard-rocking Foo show, which is probably what we're going to get at the Key.

The four Foos — also including drummer Taylor Hawkins and second guitarist Chris Shiflett — will be joined onstage by a keyboardist, a violinist, a percussionist and original Foo guitarist Pat Smear. There's an acoustic portion in the middle of the show — sometimes including at least one Nirvana song — but the sets in Europe were mostly rockin' fan faves, like "Everlong," "Monkey Wrench" and, from the band's latest, Grammy-winning album, "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace," the Grammy-winning single "The Pretender."

After Wednesday's show, it may be another long wait before Foo returns. All four members have babies now and are planning to take time off and be daddies after the 16-date summer tour ends.

Supergrass, the opening band on this leg of the tour, is a British alternative band that started at almost the same time as Foo Fighters.

Patrick MacDonald: 206-464-2312 or pmacdonald@seattletimes.com