After our first conversation, the band achieved another success: the inaugural performer. The connection to President Biden’s campaign began in the fall, when Grohl, his mother, Virginia, and Dr. Jill Biden sat down to a Zoom call on education. (Virginia was a public school teacher for 35 years.) In a convergence of circumstances and opportunities that went well, as things usually do for the band, the Foos also played “Saturday Night Live” the night before. Biden was declared the winner of the election – a performance that took place four days in advance.
For the opening event, there was really no doubt about what they would perform: Hope “Times Like These,” a track released nearly 20 years ago that has endured as an inflexible, upbeat anthem, where Grohl’s voice it rises from tender to thunderous. while it sounds for a fresh start. No matter the year the song is performed, “Times Like These” always looks to the future, imbued with a spirit of renewal very similar to Grohl himself. On social media, the response was overwhelmingly positive; more than that, the band was received as old friends. Once again, Foo Fighters made sense.
Above all, Grohl maintains a strong belief in the unifying power of music: in creating a space where people can gather and shout to hear something. As he explained, everything the band has done, and continues to do, comes from such a clear purpose.
“I just want to stay alive and play music, especially after Nirvana,” he said. “When Kurt died, I really woke up the next day and I felt so lucky to be alive and so sad that someone can disappear. I decided to take advantage of it for the rest of my life.”
Throughout our conversations, he had been self-aware of what people expected of Foo Fighters, but he didn’t take that responsibility lightly. “For me, this band has always represented this continuation of life,” he added. “We have been accused of being the least dangerous band in the world and I think this is justified in some way, because I know what it’s like to be on this other side and I know what it can lead to. That’s not why I play music. That’s not why I started playing music, or why I’m still playing music. ” After all, he had already played in the biggest band in the world. Why don’t you do it again?