Live

The Foo Fighters, Brady Cole

Sarah Warburton 11/10/2007

First of all, I want to let you in on a secret in the world of rock and their name is Brady Cole. Hailing from “sunny” Scotland this four-piece rock-making machine have the talent, personality and music to be as successful as tonight's headliners. They are currently unsigned but this won't be for long after witnessing their incredible performance on stage at the O2.

Opening to an audience of 20,000 fans, the majority of whom have most likely never of you or your music, must be quite a daunting task for a band, but if Brady Cole were nervous they certainly didn't show it. Having been personally invited by Mr. Foo himself, Dave Grohl, to support their UK arena tour Brady Cole had everything to play for. Opening with a powerful, gritty track of fantastic melodic rock, the band instantly reveal to the audience why they were chosen to perform on this tour. They were bursting at the seams with energy, they oozed enthusiasm out of every pore and the crowd was drinking it up. A sea of heads were nodding, feet were tapping and comments of “these guys are seriously good” began circulating. As they launched into their next pumped up track their dynamism and tightness became clear; they know who they are and what they do, and they do it bloody well.

Brady Cole are colourful and varied, they are passionate and talented and without doubt the have the material to make a serious impact. Before the band launch into their final track of the night they invite Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins to the stage to join in with backing vocals for a cover of The Undertones' classic “Teenage Kicks”. If it wasn't obvious before that the crowd loved the Brady Cole sensation, there was no denying they were now. As hands flailed and bodies jumped, the final chords rung out and the band left the stage to an abundance of cheers and screams. Their set seems to pass in the blink of an eye and I for one am going to be first in the queue at their next gig, and I somehow doubt I'll be alone.

Foo Fighters take to the stage with all the excitement and buzz of, well, a Foo Fighters gig. The noise is deafening but is no match for the vocals of Mr. Grohl, which pierce through the gargantuan O2 arena. The Foos are as good as the press claims: they're a truly amazing live band and Grohl is arguably the most incredible, naturally talented rock front-man to have been born. Their astounding energy, personality and stage presence deliver the cool factor by the bucket load while still managing to maintain the air of a bunch of thoroughly nice chaps.

A two hour performance is blitzed with apparent ease, which sees stages drop from the ceiling, a special acoustic performance in the centre of the arena and even a triangle solo! They play through 23 songs, including huge hits “Times Like These” and “All My Life”, perform tracks from the current album and even include a cover of a Brady Cole song. The Foos entertain the entire audience for the duration of their set, have astounding showmanship and succeed where most fail - they engage each and every member of their audience by making the 20,000 capacity 02 arena feel like the 150 capacity Troubadour. They create intimacy where there would usually be none, they are experts in the art of entertainment and I and everyone else love them for it.