Isle Of Wight Festival 2006 review
Tue 13th Jun 06
Isle of Wight Festival Isle of Wight Festival 2006 During the intermission the crowd all sing along to Guns N’ Roses’ ‘Sweet Child Of Mine’ and it’s the loudest non-band singalong of the weekend and at the front inflatable balls bounce about in a sea of air guitar arms. Clearly the crowd are here to rock.
There’s a huge cheer as Dave Grohl ushers his band out on stage and begins with some speedy strumming as they open up with ‘In Your Honor’ and the place goes wild, so wild some audience members are under-prepared and need to be taken out at the front.
‘No Way Back’ is pretty damn apt as they help the girls away from the stage and the noise, lighting and heat of the night all combine into a sweaty frenzy of rock! ‘Times Like these’ and ‘The Best Of You’ swiftly follow and there’s no let up in the frenzy as the lasers bounce around over our heads.
Dave’s voice isn’t all snarl tonight tho’, and it’s clear the band aren’t going for it, it’s more restrained than the previous time I saw them headlining at Reading last year. It’s still break neck but it’s interesting they’ve tailored the sound slightly to a more mainstream audience.
‘The One’ makes it clear that for some it’s too much as the crowd surge forward to the barrier and around us people are being hauled out and everyone’s helping those who are just freaking out from the front of the stage.
Dave seems aware of this and slows the night further by stopping to talk to us, saying he met Mani who mocked him because Foo Fighters would have to follow Primal Scream. Dave dedicates a blistering ‘Cracked Actors’ to the kids from Primal Scream. Which spawns into extended solos on guitar, bass and drums. With drummer Taylor Hawkins, Captain Beyond, smashing huge fills before effortlessly powering into ‘My Hero’
Wow! By now it’s hot and packed and sweaty and ‘DOA’s line “No one’s getting out here alive!” sure seems accurate I’m on my last legs. ‘Hey, Johnny Park!’ is dedicated to all of us who stuck around long enough to hear some rock and roll music.
I grab a beer and look about the crowd, it’s a huge sea of people, going way back, and those way back are standing about watching the Foos on the big screens and a long way from the stage. But the sound back there is actually pretty good.
‘Monkey Wrench’ is a huge crowd pleaser and it feels like a legendary performance is happening at the IOW tonight in the huge crowd. ‘All My Life’ is dedicated to us the audience and has much of the crowd singing and the Foo Fighters retire back stage.
After much calls for more, they return, this time Dave swaps to drums and lets Tayler sing ‘Cold Day In The Sun’ ... well technically he shares vocal duties while throwing his sticks around the drum kit to remind us of another band in another time.
‘Nothing Left To Lose’ and ‘Everlong’ draw the night on the main stage to a close and Foos have rocked IOW! Finally we get a legendary performance it’s just a shame there weren’t more acts able to do this over the weekend.
review by Scott Williams
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