Foo Fighters at the Velvet Jones 1/28/11

You read the headline correctly, Dave, Nate, Pat, Taylor and Santa Barbara native Chris decided to do a show in SB, but instead of selling out a huge venue they opted to sweat it out at the Velvet Jones, a club that barely holds 300 people.

The concert was a secret, I didn’t find out about it till the day of the show. The rules to getting in were simple, follow the Foo Fighters on twitter and wait for some sort of sign. Between various twit pics of familiar features the California 101 North the Foo Fighter fanbase was in a nervous frenzy. I got a tip to que up  outside Velvet Jones at 4pm from a buddy who was en route to pick me up. When we arrived we were greeted with small yet wide line of people. A bouncer came out announcing that you better have cash, be over 21 and the venue is only selling single wristbands. By the time my lady got off work and met up with our group the line was moving but luckily we got wrist banded up! A wave of 90′s nostalgia swept across my mind, it was rad to find out about a show via the internet and get tickets in an actual line and not an online fiasco.

I arrived at the nightclub around 9ish, caught some of the El Marichi Bronx, and then it was Foo Fighter time (around the 10pm mark). It was so surreal to see this band, who I have only experienced in a stadium setting. I was super close to the Foo, and so was everyone else because the venue is just that small.

So why were the Foo Fighters there? They decided to play their new album, cover to cover, no breaks, no bullshit, just pure Foo Fighter action. The new album rules, its super fast and aggressive, at least that’s how they rocked it on this particular Friday night. Instead of getting off stage after giving the crowd the entire new album(which is self titled, I think) they started busting out hit after hit form their extensive catalog of music.

I unfortunately had to leave at midnight, so I didn’t get to stay for the whole thing. Apparently the Foo Fighters played up until closing time, at least that is what the locals claim. I believe it, it looked like Dave Grohl was having a great time on stage, in between tracks he was talking shit and tweaking songs, he even gave his wife a little dedication. It was also a highlight seeing Pat Smear on stage, I have seen both Chris Shiflett and Taylor Hawkins bands at Velvet, but to see all those guys come collectively together as Foo Fighters at a place like Velvet Jones, well it doesn’t happen that often, I was just happy to be in the room.

The show was the tits. I hope more arena bands take a page from the Foo Fighters and play small club shows in Santa Barbara to work on new material as well as rock old hits until closing time; yeah I’m not going to hold my breath.

You are probably looking for a set list, Here is the set list that I ripped off of setlist.fm if you care about these types of things

1. Bridge Burning
2. Rope
3. Dear Rosemary
4. White Limo
5. Arlandria
6. These Days
7. Back & Forth
8. Matter of Time
9. Miss the Misery
10. I Should Have Known
11. Walk

12. All My Life
13. Times Like These
14. Generator
15. My Hero Play
16. Learn to Fly
17. Wattershed
18. Up in Arms
19. Big Me
20. Enough Space
21. Monkey Wrench
22. Hey, Johnny Park!
23. Everlong

Encore:

24. The Pretender
25. I’ll Stick Around
26. This is a Call

Also big ups to the Velvet Jones staff for being the best establishment for live music in Santa Barbara, you cats rule.

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