FOO FIGHTERS - Live In Launceston!
Words and Photos by Scott Gelston
The Biggest Concert in Tasmanian History!
Saturday January 24th 2026
For the last two weeks in Launceston, the question has simply been, “Are you going?”
Not “are you going to the FOO FIGHTERS?”
The biggest concert in Tasmanian history needed no further introduction.
Announced 8 weeks out from the performance, and their only Australian show, tickets were quickly snapped up, and the town of 100,000 people suddenly found itself charging $1000 a night for hotels as the Foo’s followers flocked from interstate for the show. As a local, who normally has to fly to see a stadium show, the novelty of walking with family to the venue, bumping into dozens of friends and knowing I’d be sleeping in my own bed seemed pretty great.
Tassie locals SPOOKY EYES kicked off proceedings, with a stoner-psych mashup, gnarled overdriven guitar riffs and a powerhouse rhythm section getting the early comers into the vibe. It’s easy to see why Jack White also picked the band to open for him as their CREAM-FLOYD-via-KYUSS songs stomp along with force.
Next up FULL FLOWER MOON BAND’s Babyshakes Dillon strutted across the stage, part PJ Harvey, part Courtney Love, and wholly possessed, making sure the entree before the main course was more than an appetiser.
Soon enough the crowd was ready for the FOO’s and three black vans arrived backstage, band and entourage dressed entirely in black. Dave Grohl and co ripped into the set like a Tasmanian Devil devouring a carcass. All My Life, Times Like These, The Pretender – that’s not an opening, that’s an assassination.
For the first three songs the video screens highlight the action on stage in black and white, making these colossal tunes both classic and timeless before the deep cut of La Dee Da brings the colour to the night – we would have to wait a little longer for the shape.
As the build-up begins for the next track, Grohl rushes off stage, swapping his signature Pelham blue Gibson Trini Lopez for a black Explorer and begins thrashing out the riff to Stacked Actors. The set is played mostly at breakneck speed, hair flicked, sweat flying and guitars shredding with the 1-2 punch of My Hero and Learn to Fly a real highlight. The show takes a breather as Dave choked up when talking about Taylor Hawkins’ love of Australia, before declaring, “Sometimes I just need to be a dude and get through this,” and playing Under You. Dave stands solo on stage for this number, and a fumbled chord in the chorus only added to the intimacy of the moment.
The back end of the set is packed with more FM rock monsters – Monkey Wrench, Hey Johnny Park, Aurora – before another solo moment, this time for local Brant Webb, one of the survivors of the Beaconsfield Mine Collapse twenty years ago. Brant comes on stage and Dave plays Ballad of the Beaconsfield Miners, an acoustic ditty that soothed the crowd.
With the band back behind him, Dave promises to return “before my next birthday” in January 2027 and play some songs from the new album they finished two weeks ago!
Die-hard fans would have been happy if the show ended on Exhausted, the closing track from their 1995 self-titled album, but there was one song to go, and as always, Everlong doesn’t disappoint. I’ve referred to The Foo’s as rock music's answer to a Big Mac; always pretty satisfying, you know what you’ll get, but still a burger and never as underwhelming as a cheeseburger.
For the crowd in Launceston this live version of the Foo’s might just have been a juicy steak sandwich.
4 out of 5 burgers with the lot.
