Review and setlist: Foo Fighters bring the best of themselves to Fenway Park

Foo Fighters and frontman Dave Grohl showed why they remain a must-see band more than 30 years later during a three-hour set at Fenway Park.

Foo Fighters lead singer Dave Grohl performs at Fenway Park on July 21, 2024. Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

July 22, 2024

During a packed concert at Fenway Park Sunday night, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl told the crowd that the band’s 2015 show at the home of the Red Sox — when a broken leg forced Grohl was to perform seated atop an ornate throne — was one of his favorite shows ever.

“I got to sit in that f****** throne, and I had a cupholder full of Jäg[ermeister], and got to f****** play guitar all night,” Grohl said.

Based on the boundless energy Grohl brought to Sunday’s set, which stretched nearly three hours, he may have been telling a little white lie.

Following similarly high-energy opening sets from The Hives and Amyl and the Sniffers, Foo Fighters opened their Fenway concert with Grohl running, stomping, and screaming through a searing seven-minute version of “All My Life.” By the time the song was over, Grohl’s black T-shirt was drenched, and his hair resembled a poodle who had been left out in the rain.

The band didn’t take a moment to rest, though, because as Grohl told the crowd, they had “thirty f****** years” of songs to get through.

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters performs at Fenway Park July 21, 2024. – Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

On a picture-perfect evening at the ballpark, the “OG” Foo Fighters fans, as Grohl called them, had plenty to cheer about. The band ripped through two songs from its self-titled 1995 debut album (“This Is A Call,” “I’ll Stick Around”), as well as at least a half-dozen other tracks released in the ‘90s.

Even the newer tracks in the band’s catalog flattered fans of a certain age: During “Nothing At All,” from the Foo Fighters’ latest album, “But Here We Are,” Grohl took a moment to strum the opening melody from The Beatles’ “Blackbird.” The band intros were a similar game of Name That Tune, with lead guitarist Chris Shifflet playing licks from Van Halen and Black Sabbath, and prolific session drummer Josh Freese banging out rhythms from the Ramones and Nine Inch Nails.

That’s not to say the band’s set was formulaic. Throughout the night, Grohl challenged audiences trying to sing along by mixing up the arrangements and tempos of some of their biggest hits. An anthemic rendition of “Times Like These” featured keyboardist Rami Jaffee on organ, and “My Hero” was almost funereal in tempo until the final verse.

“My Hero” marked the peak of what I like to call POMs (Phones Out Moments), with audiences turning their phone lights on to sway along. Two songs later, “Learn to Fly” nearly equaled it, with everyone and their mother grabbing handheld footage.

Just when you thought Grohl (or certain members of the audience) might drop from exhaustion, Foo Fighters mixed in a downtempo number to provide respite. A stripped-down version of “Skin and Bones” put Grohl and keyboardist Rami Jaffee center stage on acoustic guitar and accordion, respectively, while the rest of the band took a break.

With the crowd bathed in a calming blue light emanating from all over the ballpark, it was the only time anyone in the audience sat down.

The crowd at Fenway Park is bathed in blue light during the Foo Fighters concert on July 21, 2024. – Grace Beal/Boston Red Sox

When Foo Fighters last visited Boston as headliners for Boston Calling 2023, Grohl played a heartfelt rendition of “Cold Day in the Sun” in tribute to the late drummer Taylor Hawkins. This time around, the band played what Grohl said was Hawkins’ favorite Foo song, “Aurora,” with the bandleader opining that Hawkins was “here with us tonight.”

Before a two-song encore (“The Teacher,” “Everlong”), Grohl again showcased his unceasing motor during “Best of You.” When he wasn’t running around the stage, Grohl was punching the air or head-banging while standing in place. Each of the larynx-shredding screams that followed the chorus sounded like his first notes of the night.

That’s what you get when you see the Foo Fighters: A 55-year-old man who, as he told the crowd at Fenway Sunday night, simply loves “big-ass rock ‘n’ roll shows.”

Dave Grohl, lead singer, and Josh Freese on drums as the Foo Fighters performed at Fenway Park on Sunday. – Matthew J. Lee/Globe Staff

Foo Fighters Fenway Park concert set list

All My life
No Son of Mine (Featuring snippets of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” and Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”)
Rescued
The Pretender
Walk
Times like These
Generator
Breakout
Band Intros (Featuring snippets of “Eruption” by Van Halen, “Thunderstruck” by AC/DC, “Sabotage” by the Beastie Boys, “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones, “March of the Pigs” by Nine Inch Nails)
My Hero
The Sky Is a Neighborhood
Learn to Fly
Arlandria
These Days
Skin and Bones
Under You
Nothing At All (Featuring snippet of “Blackbird” by the Beatles)
Shame Shame
This Is a Call
Monkey Wrench
Aurora
Best of You