See Dave Grohl Debut Emphatic New Song ‘The Sky Is a Neighborhood’
Dave Grohl debuted a new song on Monday night at the Acoustic 4 a Cure benefit show in San Francisco. Despite the acoustic nature of the concert, Grohl, backed by Foo Fighters‘ Taylor Hawkins and longtime collaborator Rami Jaffee, sang as if his full band was roaring behind him, hurling his scratchy, urgent voice to the back of the Fillmore.
Onstage, Grohl told the crowd that he decided to debut a new tune earlier that day. “I figured on the way up here, I thought we would play a new song,” he said. “We’ve never played this before to anybody.”
Grohl accompanied himself with aggressive, emphatic acoustic guitar. “The sky is a neighborhood, don’t make a sound,” he barked, nearly drowning out his drummer and piano player. “Lights coming up ahead, don’t look down.” The musician also performed Foo Fighters’ “Times Like These,” “My Hero” and “Everlong.”
It’s unclear if the song will appear as an official release on an upcoming Grohl or Foo Fighters project.
Grohl was filling in for Metallica’s James Hetfield at the Acoustic 4 a Cure show, which has been put on for four years by Hetfield and Sammy Hagar. (Hetfield was on the East Coast performing with Metallica on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.)
Hagar performed a cover of Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” alongside Van Halen’s “Right Now,” his own 2016 song “Sam I Am” and new song “Father Time.”
The event raises money to fund pediatric cancer research at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital; other performers this year included Pat Benatar, Mick Fleetwood, Sarah McLachlan, Steve Vai and Bob Weir.
Foo Fighters released their last album, Sonic Highways, in November 2014. Speaking with Rolling Stone a month after that release, Grohl already knew how to describe his band’s next LP: “Bigger.”