Foo Fighters have announced a one-off show on March 4th at GMBHA Stadium in Geelong, a Victoria port city roughly an hour’s drive from Melbourne. The show, which will welcome tens of thousands of fans, marks the first full-capacity stadium concert in Australia by an international act since the pandemic began in 2020.
After maintaining strict travel restrictions since the emergence of COVID-19—and stalling the country’s global concert industry even after large-scale shows returned last year—Australia on Monday lifted its final travel restrictions for vaccinated travelers, reopening the market to internationally touring artists.
Foo Fighters appeared to be an appropriate choice to “cut the ribbon” on the return of stadium shows Down Under. The Dave Grohl-led band, which was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2021, similarly helped welcome back large-scale concerts in New York City (with a show at Madison Square Garden on 6/20/21) and Los Angeles (with a late-August show, after an initially scheduled July reopening performance at The Forum was postponed due to COVID-19 in the band’s touring team).
Grohl spoke about the rapid turnaround time for the gig during a Wednesday evening appearance on The Late Late Show with James Corden. After running down the rocker’s myriad recent projects and accolades, the host wondered, “Do you ever just chill?”
“I do not, no,” Grohl laughed. “You know this, I’ve been here a million times! I don’t sleep much, and there are times when I’ll wake up in the morning at 4:30 in the morning and I’m just, like, ‘Oh my god, what can I do today?’ About two weeks ago, I woke up, opened up my phone, looked at the news, and saw that Australia was opening its borders for the first time in years. It said February 21st, and at 5:00 in the morning I text my manager and I go, ‘We need to go there next week to be the first band to go down.’ So, he’s like, ‘Okay,’ and so [next] weekend we’re gonna go down there and play the first big show they’ve had in two years.”
Watch the clip from Corden below. For tickets to the March 4th, 2022 Foo Fighters show at GMBHA Stadium in Australia with special guests Amyl and the Sniffers and The Meanies, or to view a full list of upcoming tour dates around the world, head here.
Dave Grohl Talks Last-Minute Stadium Show In Australia
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