Could Foo Fighters debut a new song at Reading & Leeds?

Foo Fighters (Image credit: Brantley Gutierrez)

Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl has said it’s possible the band could unveil a new song this weekend when they headline Reading & Leeds – although he stresses they haven’t settled on a final setlist.

It'll be the Foos seventh appearance at the festival – and, when asked by NME what they’re going to do to make this one special, Grohl says: “At this point in our lifespan, there’s so much that we could do. 

“We could bust out the same set that we played in 1995. We could come out on stage with new songs. We could come out on stage and do a chronological history of the band, in reverse. 

“It’s just a matter of figuring out how to do it. That’s usually something that we figure out on the afternoon of the show.”

Asked about new tracks and the possibility of debuting one of them at the twin festivals, Grohl replies: “There’s always something. I’m constantly writing but not always seriously, then at some point they become a little more formed. 

“When I feel like they’re ready, that’s when I bring them to the band. We’re not that far along in any kind of official process, but there’s always something. 

“It’s happened before where we’ve written a song that afternoon and performed it. Never say never. There is one new song that would fucking destroy and I would love people to hear it. 

“It’s written for a live performance, so we’ll see. I don’t know.”

Earlier this week, drummer Taylor Hawkins told RockSound that a new Foo Fighters album could see the light of day in 2020.

He said: “Well, from what I've heard from our fearless leader Dave Grohl, he has a lot of demos that he's worked on and I think we'll start, once this tour is over. I think not too soon after that we'll start the process of putting the songs together as a band.

"It's a long process, we do a lot of demoing and stuff, but I think that we'll have, I'm hoping, I think we'll have a new record by next year. We should.”

Foo Fighters will play in Dublin later tonight (August 21) and head back across the Atlantic for further shows in September

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.