Tired, sweaty, but clearly having a blast, Dave Grohl stopped the Foo Fighters‘ show late on Wednesday to challenge a full house at the Kia Forum to join him in a thunderous chorus of rock-and-roll screams.
“Tonight, I want everyone to scream like they’re a 57-year-old man having the (bleepin’) time of his life,” Grohl said at a show held on his birthday. “We gonna do that?”
Oh yeah, they were definitely gonna do that, and wave after wave of roars echoed through the Inglewood arena – primal, thrilling, cathartic – as Grohl ran around the circular stage at the center of the floor, urging fans to keep going.
Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters performs at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) The Foo Fighters perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) The Foo Fighters perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) The Foo Fighters perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters performs at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) The Foo Fighters perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) The Foo Fighters perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) The Foo Fighters perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) The Foo Fighters perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) The Foo Fighters perform at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters performs at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) Show Caption1 of 11Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters performs at the Kia Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, January 14, 2026. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram/SCNG) ExpandThen, after the crowd finally quieted, Grohl showed what he still had in the tank, jumping back into “Monkey Wrench” with a throat-shredding a cappella howl through the lyrics of the bridge before the rest of the Foo Fighters picked up where they’d paused.
With 21 songs over almost two-and-a-half hours, it was a welcome return of rock and roll to the new year, shaking off the sluggishness of winter with a joyful, raucous show.
For the Foo Fighters, it was also their first time back at the Kia Forum since September 2022, when they played a memorial concert for their late drummer Taylor Hawkins, a loss that still surfaces at times during a Foo Fighters show.
The night opened with a video welcome from Foo Fighter guitarist Pat Smear, who is temporarily out of action after a gardening accident – so rock and roll! – left him with several broken bones in his foot. [Smear was still present on Wednesday, a picture of his face with glowing red eyes used as the head on the kick drum of new Foo drummer Ilan Rubin’s kit.]
“My Hero,” dedicated to Smear, opened the show, the crowd singing loudly along with Grohl, as they would throughout most of the bigger hits in the set. The chugging guitar riffs of Grohl, Chris Shifflet, and fill-in Jason Falkner next launched the band into “All My Life.”
Lots of bands wouldn’t frontload their show with the bigger hits, but Foo Fighters charged right into the soaring melodies of “Times Like These” and the ’70s-style hard rocker “The Pretender” before “La Dee Da” served anything close to a deep cut.
The stage sat at the center of the arena floor, rotating every few songs so that fans on every side got straight-on views. There was an attempt to match its movements to specific songs, Grohl said.
“I got so overwhelmed I was like, ‘(bleep) it, just spin it whenever you want,’” he told the audience at one point. “I don’t have that brain. I can’t do it.
“So for everybody here tonight, at some point you’re going to get a nice look at my ass running around the (bleepin’) stage,” Grohl added. “Just so you all know.”
As the band played through the set, songs from a particular album were paired together as callbacks to specific eras in the Foo Fighters’ three decades together.
“These Days” and “Walk” arrived back-to-back from 2011’s “Wasting Light” album, with the crew rolling a birthday cake with lit candles on stage at the end of “Walk.” “Stacked Actors” and “Learn to Fly” followed from 1999’s “There Is Nothing Left to Lose.”
Many of the songs ended with extended instrumental segments. “Run,” for instance, wrapped up with Grohl, Shiflett and Falkner, who’s best known as a member of Jellyfish as well as playing with both Beck and St. Vincent, standing closely together for a spacy kind of jam that the Forum surely hosted often in the ’70s.
And “No Son of Mine,” which already comes with a strong Motörhead influence, made its inspiration obvious during an instrumental section that segued into that band’s “Ace of Spades” and ended with a dedication to Motörhead’s late singer-bassist Lemmy Kilmister.
“So, we don’t really have much of a plan for tonight,” Grohl said at the close of that song, prompting laughter from the crowd. “For those of you who’ve come to see the Foo Fighters before, you might already know it’s some loose (stuff), man.
“We don’t play the computers. We don’t have the whole (bleepin’) thing. We just come out, and we play some loose-ass rock and roll. So I hope you’re cool with that. That’s what we do.”
No worries, the band was met with rousing approval throughout the night. As did the always poignant moment in the set when Grohl paid tribute to Hawkins, who died in March 2022 while on tour with the Foo Fighters in Argentina.
“Under You,” performed on Wednesday by Grohl solo on electric guitar, was written in the aftermath of Hawkins’ death. “Aurora,” which followed with the band back on stage, was Hawkins’ favorite Foo Fighters’ song, which Grohl said after Hawkins’ death, the band would continue to play every night in his memory.
“I’m sorry for getting so emotional,” Grohl said at the close of “Aurora.” “Time to start screaming,” which was exactly what followed with furious runs through songs such as “White Limo,” “Monkey Wrench,” a few more before the main set ended.
That wrapped with Grohl belting out the opening line, “I’ve got another confession to make,” of “Best Of You,” one of the band’s most hopeful, yearning, communal songs.
“Exhausted,” with which the Foos often closed shows early in their career, opened the encore, before “Everlong,” the current show-closer finished a night of loose, noisy, glorious rock and roll.
“I’d like to thank all of you for coming, because I’ll remind you that each one of you coming here tonight, buying a ticket to this show tonight, is helping someone else survive,” Grohl said at the start of the encore, referencing the benefit funds that will flow to Hope the Mission and the LA Mission.
“You realize that, right? Right?” he continued. “That’s a good (bleepin’) thing. That’s what you should do. I have an idea. Let’s help other people. Let’s give. Let’s have compassion. Let’s have empathy. Let’s do all those good deeds.
“You want to do that?” he said, happy, tired, sincere. “We’ll see you guys soon.”
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