The well-tuned machine called the Foo Fighters kicked off the North American stadium leg of their Take Cover Tour on Tuesday (8/4) at Rogers Stadium in Toronto.
Led by the unstoppable Dave Grohl (vocals, guitar), Pat Smear (who celebrated his 59th birthday the next day on guitar), Chris Shiflett (guitar), Nate Mendel (bass), Rami Jaffee (keyboards) and new drummer Ilan Rubin delivered a 26-song set.
Opening the show were Grohl's buddies Queens of the Stone Age as well as the always delightful Mannequin Pussy.
Some tender moments in Toronto happened when Grohl dedicated “Under You” to Shane Hawkins, the son of former Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, as the concert took place on Shane’s 20th birthday.
Shane, like his dad, is an excellent drummer and displayed his chops during the 2022 Taylor Hawkins tribute concert. Shane has also performed and toured with Chevy Metal, the cover band his dad founded.
Dave later dedicated “Aurora,” from the Foos' 1999 LP There Is Nothing Left to Lose to Taylor near the end of the main set.
Hawkins often said it was one of his favorite tunes and the band has repeatedly used it as an onstage remembrance since returning to the road after his tragic death in Bogotá, Colombia, in early 2022.
“The Teacher” was the first song during the encore and was dedicated to Grohl’s mother, Virginia Hanlon Grohl, who also died in 2022. The nearly ten-minute song is off of But Here We Are.
Virginia, a former public school teacher, wrote the 2017 book From Cradle to Stage: Stories From the Mothers Who Rocked and Raised Rock Stars, with a foreword by her famous son.
Always in motion, Dave later directed a Paramount+ adaptation of Virginia's book, where the two visited musicians and their mothers to chat it up with families of rockers.
These included Dave Pharrell Williams and Dr. Carolyn Williams, Miranda Lambert and Bev Lambert, Tom Morello and Mary Morello, Dan Reynolds and Christene Reynolds, Brandi Carlile and Teresa Carlile, and Geddy Lee and Mary Weinrib.
Rogers Stadium should not be confused with the Rogers Centre which is also in Toronto. Nor should it be mistaken for Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia; Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta; or Rogers Sarnia Bayfest in Sarnia, Ontario.
All of these venues the Foo Fighters have headlined in over their two-decade run.
Rogers Stadium, Toronto
Named after the Canadian communications giant, Rogers Stadium is a relatively new, but temporary, open-air concert venue built over a former small airport. It opened last summer and can hold around 50,000 fans for a concert configuration like what the Foo Fighters threw down.
The stadium is expected to operate for only several years before being redeveloped into a little neighborhood of housing, businesses, parks and public spaces.
Some of the acts that packed the stadium last year included Stray Kids, Coldplay, BLACKPINK, Oasis, System of a Down with Deftones, and Hozier.
This year Bruno Mars dominated the GTA with five sold-out shows at the stadium.
Rogers Centre, Toronto
The Foo Fighters performed at the retractable domed home of the Toronto Blue Jays just once in 2018.
Sir Rod Stewart played the first concert there in 1989 when it was called SkyDome. It can seat 50k concertgoers.
It boasts the world’s first stadium with a fully retractable roof that weighs 11,000 tons and can open or close in around 25 minutes - as Nirvanna the Band learned the hard way.
The joint also contains a hotel with rooms overlooking the field, in which some have been caught acting naughty in during events because they refused to close the curtains.
SkyDome became Rogers Centre in 2005 after Rogers Communications bought the place.
Taylor Swift played a half dozen sold-out Eras Tour concerts there from November 14-23, 2024, becoming the first artist to perform six shows at the stadium.
Rogers Arena, Vancouver, BC
Rogers Arena opened in 1995 as General Motors Place which locals called GM Place, and holds about 19,000 people for concerts.
The Foos played there three times: 2011, 2015, 2018.
The home of the Vancouver Canucks also hosted the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies before they defected to Memphis in 2001.
It was temporarily named Canada Hockey Place during the 2010 Winter Olympics because Olympic rules prohibited commercially named venues. Rogers acquired the naming rights later in 2010.
Rogers Place, Edmonton
Opened in the fall of 2016, Rogers Place is one of the centerpieces of the city's ICE District and can hold over 20k concert goers with a center-stage configuration.
Dave and the gang played there just once, back in 2018 near the end of the Concrete and Gold Tour.
It replaced Rexall Place as the Edmonton Oilers’ home. Unlike other venues, the new arena was built from scratch in downtown Edmonton rather than on the old spot's site.
Foo Fighters played Rexall Place four times (8/7/05, 3/28/08 & 10/28/11. For their show on 8/12/15, Dave rocked from this throne.)
Keith Urban broke the seal for its inaugural concert on September 16, 2016. Garth Brooks, though, is the king of the castle, as he had a nine-show residency in 2017 where he put more than 115,000 butts in seats.
Rogers Sarnia Bayfest, Sarnia, Ontario
Our tour ends where it began in a way with a temporary venue in Ontario.
From 1999 through 2012 an annual outdoor summer Bayfest was held at Centennial Park in Sarnia. Headliners included Aerosmith in 2007, Kiss in 2009 & 2011, and Rush in 2010.
It shut down in 2013 after asbestos, lead, hydrocarbons and other contaminants were discovered.
Even though an expensive four-year clean up helped reopen it in 2017, Bayfest never returned. The Foos would play their only show there in 2003 on a bill that included Cheap Trick and Matthew Good.
The Foo Fighters next stop will be Chicago's Soldier Field. They'll play a few more football fields before playing the Hollywood Bowl on August 22. Then they'll pop down to Brazil and then come back to North America. At the end of the year they'll venture down under.
Get your tix on the Foo Fighters website.
Take Cover Tour 2026-2027
08/08 Soldier Field, Chicago, IL *^
08/10 Huntington Bank Field, Cleveland, OH *^
08/13 Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, PA *^
08/15 Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN *^
08/17 Nationals Park, Washington, DC *^
08/22 Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, CA %
09/04 Rock in Rio, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
09/12 Fargodome, Fargo, ND ^
09/15 Mosaic Stadium, Regina, SK, Canada *^
09/17 Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, AB, Canada *^
09/20 BC Place, Vancouver, BC, Canada *&
09/24 Bourbon & Beyond, Louisville, KY
09/26 Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas, NV *&
10/03 Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
10/04 Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, CT
11/05 Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
11/07 Queensland Country Bank Stadium, Townsville, QLD, Australia
11/10 Accor Stadium, Sydney, NSW, Australia
11/12 McDonald Jones Stadium, Newcastle, NSW, Australia
11/14 Marvel Stadium, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
11/17 Coopers Stadium, Adelaide, SA, Australia
01/19 One New Zealand Stadium, Christchurch, New Zealand
01/22 Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand
01/25 HBF Park, Perth, WA, Australia
01/29 Bengaluru Live, Bangalore, India
01/31 Mahalaxmi Racecourse, Mumbai, India
with Queens of the Stone Age
^ with Mannequin Pussy
& with Gouge Away
% with Gustavo Dudamel, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and YOLA
