Foo Fighters plan unpredictable live sets on current tour

(Image credit: Brantley Gutierrez)

Foo Fighters have just kicked off their latest leg of their Concrete And Gold tour across the US.

They’ve been on the road supporting the album since it launched in September last year. But rather than keeping to the same set lists every night, guitarist Chris Shiflett says fans are in for a treat as vocalist and guitarist Dave Grohl is planning on mixing things up onstage.

Shiflett tells Rolling Stone: “Things change on a dime. When we get into that final third, Dave will start cutting, adding and rearranging songs, or he'll do stuff in a different order. 

“You have to stay in the moment the whole time. You don't want to be up there thinking about the room service. It keeps you on your toes.”

Shiflett points to their track The Sky Is a Neighborhood, saying: “It's evolved a little bit over the months of playing it live. Everything is a little looser and a little louder. 

“It's gotten a little rougher around the edges, some of the parts have stretched out, the pauses are longer. We added an intro thing to it. It's just changed.”

He adds: “Dave tends to like to keep the show moving, but we'll play some different songs to gauge how people react.

“We threw in Make It Right recently, which we haven't been playing much. We have a little jam room backstage where we can warm up and run through anything new once or twice just to get the dust off it a little bit. We play four or five new songs a night.”

Shiflett reports that after eight months on the road, the band are in “good form” and adds: "We’re hitting our stride but we’re not burnt out yet. People should expect to get their money’s worth."

Following their current run of US shows, Foo Fighters will head to Europe this summer for a handful of concerts before returning to North America for further live dates.

Foo Fighters 2018 tour dates

Apr 19: The Woodlands The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, TX
Apr 21:Dallas Starplex Pavilion, TX
Apr 22: Bossier City CenturyLink Center, LA
Apr 25: Tampa Midflorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, FL
Apr 26: West Palm Beach Coral Sky Amphitheatre, FL
Apr 27: Jacksonville Welcome To Rockville, FL
Apr 28: Atlanta Georgia State Stadium, GA
May 01: Lexington Rupp Arena, KY
May 03: Memphis FedEx Forum, TN
May 04: Nashville Bridgestone Arena, TN
Jun 05: Gothenburg Ullevi Arena, Sweden
Jun 10: Hamburg Trabrennbahn Bahrenfeld, Germany
Jun 13: Bern Stade De Suisse, Switzerland
Jun 14: Florence Firenze Rocks, Italy
Jul 06: Columbia Merriweather Post Pavilion, MD
Jul 07: Camden BB&T Pavilion, NJ
Jul 12: Toronto Rogers Centre, ON
Jul 14: Wantagh Northwell Health & Jones Beach, NY
Jul 16: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Jul 17: New York Madison Square Garden, NY
Jul 19: Pittsburgh PPG Paints Arena, PA
Jul 21: Boston Fenway Park, MA
Jul 22: Boston Fenway Park, MA
Jul 25: Cuyahoga Falls Blossom Music Center, OH
Jul 26: Noblesville Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center, IN
Jul 29: Chicago Wrigley Field, IL
Jul 30: Chicago Wrigley Field, IL
Sep 01: Seattle Safeco Field, WA
Sep 04: Edmonton Rogers Place, AB
Sep 06: Calgary Scotiabank Saddledome, AB
Sep 08: Vancouver Rogers Arena, BC
Sep 10: Portland Moda Centre At The Rose Quarter, OR
Sep 12: San Jose SAP Center, CA
Oct 08: Phoenix Talking Stick Resort Arena, AZ
Oct 10: Denver Pepsi Center, CO
Oct 13: St Louis Scottrade Center, MO
Oct 15: Detroit Little Caesars Arena, MI
Oct 17: Milwaukee Wisconsin Entertainment & Sports Centre, WI
Oct 18: St Paul Xcel Energy Center, MN

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 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 maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to 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.