When Dave Grohl's mom spoke, everybody listened.
The musician has shared a story about the time the Foo Fighters were opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Californication tour, and the show was delayed due to an unruly crowd. Dave's mom, Virginia Grohl, was the only person able to perform crowd control so that the show could begin.
Appearing on the December 20 episode of the podcast Song Exploder, Dave discussed the 10-minute But Here We Are track "The Teacher," which is dedicated to his mom, who was a public school teacher and died in 2022.
"I was the worst student. I hated it when she tried to tutor me," Grohl admitted. "I don't want to hear that teacher voice, you know? But there was one show where the Foo Fighters were opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers — this is 25 years ago — and they couldn't start the show because the audience had already rushed the barrier in the arena. The promoter came out and said, 'We can't begin the show until you guys back up.' Nobody listened to the promoter. Somebody else came out: 'No seriously, you guys need to back up, you need to back up.'"
Everything changed when Virginia stepped in. Dave explained, "My mother took the microphone, went out there and said, "Listen. You kids, you need to back up.' And everybody just backed the fuck up."
This was around the same time as the infamous Woodstock '99 riot, when fans lit fires during the Red Hot Chili Peppers' performance. Maybe they should have called Virginia to help out then, too?
The podcast episode can be heard below. Grohl discusses the rowdy Chili Peppers show just after the 10-minute mark.
The musician has shared a story about the time the Foo Fighters were opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers on the Californication tour, and the show was delayed due to an unruly crowd. Dave's mom, Virginia Grohl, was the only person able to perform crowd control so that the show could begin.
Appearing on the December 20 episode of the podcast Song Exploder, Dave discussed the 10-minute But Here We Are track "The Teacher," which is dedicated to his mom, who was a public school teacher and died in 2022.
"I was the worst student. I hated it when she tried to tutor me," Grohl admitted. "I don't want to hear that teacher voice, you know? But there was one show where the Foo Fighters were opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers — this is 25 years ago — and they couldn't start the show because the audience had already rushed the barrier in the arena. The promoter came out and said, 'We can't begin the show until you guys back up.' Nobody listened to the promoter. Somebody else came out: 'No seriously, you guys need to back up, you need to back up.'"
Everything changed when Virginia stepped in. Dave explained, "My mother took the microphone, went out there and said, "Listen. You kids, you need to back up.' And everybody just backed the fuck up."
This was around the same time as the infamous Woodstock '99 riot, when fans lit fires during the Red Hot Chili Peppers' performance. Maybe they should have called Virginia to help out then, too?
The podcast episode can be heard below. Grohl discusses the rowdy Chili Peppers show just after the 10-minute mark.
