Drummer Greg Barton successfully completes nine-hour, 128-song, one-take Foo Fighters drum marathon

(Image credit: GBDrummin)

A drummer has successfully completed a nine-hour marathon in which he played every Foo Fighters song in succession, beginning with This Is A Call, the opening track on the band's 1995 debut album, and climaxing 128 songs later with Rest, the final song on 2023's So Here We Are.

Greg Barton, a professional drummer with over 15 years of experience behind the kit, performed the Herculean task to raise money for the Cancer Research Institute, dedicating the feat to his grandmother, Debra – who is currently battling the disease – and to late Foo Fighters sticksman Taylor Hawkins.

In advance of his energy-sapping feat, Barton isolated every drum track using AI in order to familiarise himself with the parts, before completing a six-hour warm-up last month.

“Couldn’t be happier with how it turned out" said Barton. "So grateful for the incredible people I got to work with to make this a reality. Not only did we smash our fundraising goal, but I made it the distance and had an absolute blast along the way.

“Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for making this one of the best days ever. This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. You can see my left hand completely cramp up at song 57 and I truly thought I might DNF… I think pure adrenaline carried me through the last three albums."

Barton, who described the marathon as the "hardest thing I've ever done in my life", initially set a target of $5000, and has raised nearly $8000. You can watch the entire performance below, or donate to his campaign.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.