“I wanted it to be the biggest sounding Foo Fighters record ever. To make a gigantic rock record but with Greg Kurstin’s sense of melody and arrangement… Motorhead’s version of Sgt. Pepper… or something like that.”
So speaks Dave Grohl of the mission statement made manifest in Foo Fighters’ ninth epic, the aptly-titled Concrete and Gold, due out September 15 worldwide on Roswell Records / RCA Records.
Just as Foo Fighters’ anthem of the summer “Run” “opens as a dreamy, slow burner then… quickly turns heavy as thunder” (BILLBOARD) with its “huge triumphant chorus” (STEREOGUM), Concrete and Gold marries some of the most insanely heavy FF riffs ever with lush harmonic complexities courtesy of a first time team-up with producer Greg Kurstin (Adele, Sia, Pink).
This unlikely alliance came about through a bizarre sequence of surprise musical obsessions and chance encounters: Listening to the radio during a drive roughly four years ago, Grohl first heard “Again and Again” by Kurstin’s band The Bird & The Bee—“It blew my mind… it was so much more sophisticated than anything I’d ever heard and I became obsessed.”
Some months later, Grohl would randomly spot and fanboy out over “the guy from The Bird & The Bee!” a/k/a Greg Kurstin. The two became fast friends over common musical loves with Grohl learning that his new favorite band had been on hiatus due to Kurstin’s workload as a producer.
While Foo Fighters recorded and released Sonic Highways, broke some bones and packed stadiums and arenas on one of the top five grossing tours of 2015, and gifted fans with the St. Cecilia EP, “Greg was becoming one of the biggest producers in the world,” Grohl recalls.
Foo Fighters has announced a tour in support focusing mainly on smaller markets with perhaps a bigger summer shed or stadium tour in major markets on the horizon for summer 2018. Tour dates below!
OCTOBER 12 – Washington DC – The Anthem (SOLD OUT)
OCTOBER 14 – Richmond, VA – Richmond Coliseum
OCTOBER 15 – Greensboro, NC – Greensboro Coliseum
OCTOBER 17 – Columbia, SC – Colonial Life Arena
OCTOBER 18 – Knoxville, TN – Thompson-Boling Arena
OCTOBER 20 – Cincinnati, OH – U.S. Bank Arena
OCTOBER 21 – Lexington, KY – Rupp Arena
OCTOBER 23 – Nashville, TN – Bridgestone Arena
OCTOBER 24 – Memphis,TN – FedExForum
OCTOBER 26 – Birmingham, AL – Legacy Arena at The BJCC
OCTOBER 28 – New Orleans, LA – Voodoo Music + Arts Experience
NOVEMBER 7 – Madison, WI – Kohl Center
NOVEMBER 8 – Champaign, IL – State Farm Arena (* Public On Sale Thursday, July 13 10am Local)
NOVEMBER 10 – Des Moines, IA – Wells Fargo Arena
NOVEMBER 11 – Sioux Falls, SD – Denny Sanford PREMIER Center
NOVEMBER 13 – Wichita, KS – INTRUST Bank Arena
NOVEMBER 15 – Tulsa, OK – BOK Center
DECEMBER 1 – Fresno, CA – Save Mart Center
DECEMBER 2 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center
DECEMBER 4 – Spokane, WA – Spokane Arena
DECEMBER 5 – Eugene, OR – Matthew Knight Arena
DECEMBER 7 – Nampa ID – Ford Idaho Center
DECEMBER 9 – Billings MT – Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark
DECEMBER 10 – Casper WY – Casper Events Center
DECEMBER 12 – Salt Lake City UT – Vivint Smart Home Arena