‘This Is A F*cking Rock Concert!‘: Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl Celebrates Playing First Live Set in Over a Year at Pro-Vaccine Show

Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images.

“This is a f***ing rock concert!” That was Dave Grohl’s exuberant call as the Foo Fighters celebrated playing their first live concert in over a year, performing at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium.

Vax Live: The Concert To Reunite the World was organized by Global Citizen and was filmed to be aired this Saturday, May 8.

Over 20,000 fans were there in person, and in addition to the Foo Fighters closing out the show, they also enjoyed performances by Jennifer Lopez, J Balvin, and Eddie Vedder. AC/DC’s Brian Johnson joined the Foos for a cover of his band’s 1980 hit, “Back in Black.”

There were lots of big names among the event’s hosts, including Prince Harry and Meghan, Selena Gomez, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel, Chrissy Teigen, and Ben Affleck. President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Pope Francis also made video appearances.

The musical performers and celebrity guests had two main messages they emphasized: encouraging everyone to get a vaccine, and for countries with more resources to help provide vaccines to other countries.

Concert organizers imposed a number of Covid-related restrictions. The crowd was limited to less than a third of the stadium’s 70,000 capacity, and all attendees had to show proof of vaccination in order to be admitted. Alcohol and other concessions were not sold and masks were required, but this was the first time a crowd of thousands of people were allowed to sit right next to each other at a music performance in California.

“Nervous is an understatement, everything had to be buttoned up,” Global Citizen CEO Hugh Evans told Rolling Stone about their Covid protocols. “We had to make sure everyone was fully vaccinated, we needed temperature checks and rapid testing on site, contact tracing, and limited capacity in every area of the production. It’s very intense, but we did it because we wanted to demonstrate that if you take the vaccine, this is the pathway to open up.”

“[N]o one was more excited than Dave Grohl,” wrote Rolling Stone’s Ethan Millman, noting how Grohl had repeatedly said “This is a f***ing rock concert!” between songs, almost in disbelief he had the chance to play before his fans again. “In the last year, I’ve been having this dream that’s happening now,” said Grohl.

The band closed out the show with a very appropriate “My Hero,” which they dedicated to the essential workers who had been the country’s heroes over the past pandemic year.

Vax Live: The Concert To Reunite the World will air at on Saturday, May 8, at 8 pm/7 pm CT on ABC, CBS, Fox, Hulu, YouTube, and a variety of other media platforms (complete list and times here).