Dave Grohl On Headlining Reading With Nirvana: "It Was A Genuinely Magical Moment"

In this week's issue of Kerrang!, we catch up with a man addicted to live music: one Dave Grohl. And as Foo Fighters return to the UK this week, the singer/guitarist/drummer extraordinaire looks back on some of his most life-changing moments on a stage.

Remembering a huge spectrum of incredible shows – from his first gig with Nirvana, to two legendary nights at Wembley Stadium with the Foos – Dave reflects on his most memorable evenings in front of a crowd.

Telling Kerrang! about headlining Reading Festival in August of 1992, Dave reveals:

“I remember showing up to Reading ’92 and there being so many rumours that we weren’t going to play, that we had cancelled. I walked backstage and some of my best friends in bands that were opening would see me and say, ‘What are you doing here?’ And I’d go, ‘We’re fucking headlining!’ And they’d be like, ‘You’re actually going to play?!’ I didn’t realise there was any question that we were going to play. I knew within myself I was questioning if we could play, but I knew we were going to try. 

“The show was a really reassuring, genuinely magical moment of everything coming together at the right time. I think we had practised once, the day before, and I just didn’t know if we could pull it off. That happened a bunch of times in Nirvana, where you’d think, ‘God, this is going to be a fucking disaster,’ and then it would turn out to be something beautiful. So yeah, it went great, but it’s sad that that’s the last time we ever played England, because it could have been better. We just didn’t play England enough, I don’t think. The memory is somewhat triumphant but melancholy, because we never came back.”

For a ton more amazing insights into Dave's life lived onstage, pick up this week's issue of Kerrang!, out now. It looks like this, and is available anywhere in the world when you order online through Newsstand, or from all good newsagents for UK residents!

Photo: Tom Barnes