Review: Foo Fighters rock Emirates Old Trafford to kick off UK stadium tour

It’s mid June in Manchester, and a near gale is blowing - with some piercing rain thrown in for good measure. Of course it is.

An army of 50,000 Foo Fighters fans are shivering in plastic macs at Emirates Old Trafford for this so-called-summer gig. Wet Leg have done their best to warm us all up, although most of our legs just got even wetter.

But when Dave Grohl roars out on to stage it’s as if he tears those grim clouds above asunder. The wind has a good go of whipping his lengthy locks all over his face - but even with hair obscuring him like Cousin Itt, still he just rocks on to blast open the show with Monkey Wrench.

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“Do you f***ing love rock ‘n’ roll music?” He asks the crowd to a roar of approval. “Guess what? I f***ing love rock ‘n’roll music.”

The Foos are here in Manchester on the first night of the UK leg of their Everything or Nothing at All tour and trust me when I say they’ve thrown everything bar the kitchen sink at it. Forget any previous setlists you might have seen because this opener rips it up and blows it all out again with a real mix of hits from across the band’s 30 year back catalogue.

Grohl explains: “We want to play one song from every record”, after an outing of Stacked Actors and launching into Medicine at Midnight.

What follows is an epic near three hour raucous rock masterclass. For the Foo fan, it was just hit after hit after breathless hit.

It’s an absolute wall of sound for No Son of Mine, Grohl duelling guitars with Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett on stage. Then there are the huge fan singalongs for the likes of The Pretender, Walk and All My Life.

My Hero ends with a singalong so lusty that Grohl