WASHINGTON — “Hello, I’ve waited here for you. Everlong.”
As the Foo Fighters sang those lyrics on Thursday night, it doubled for D.C. music fans, who have waited everlong to hear live music on the Southwest Waterfront.
Now, it’s finally a reality thanks to the 6,000-person venue The Anthem at The Wharf.
The night kicked off with the opening act, the popular British band The Struts, performing such hits as “Could Have Been Me” and “Kiss This,” as well as a few deeper cuts. Eccentric frontman Luke Spiller told the crowd it was the band’s most important gig to date.
Shortly after, D.C. native Dave Grohl took the stage with The Foo Fighters, kicking off their set list with an old school gem “I’ll Stick Around” with the refrain, “I don’t owe you anything!”
The irony wasn’t lost on the crowd; Grohl owes D.C. a lot and gave it all back Thursday night.
“I got lucky; I grew up right in the perfect place,” Grohl told the crowd. “I said to [Anthem founder Seth Hurwitz] earlier, ‘What’s the curfew?’ and he said, ‘There isn’t one.'”
With that, the crowd roared as the band launched into 21st century hits like “All My Life” and “The Pretender,” while weaving in more ’90s gold from early in their career.
“How many old-school Foo Fighters fans do we have here tonight?” Grohl said to a loud cheer. “That means every baby sitter in the D.C. metro area is busy tonight!”
These ’90s gems included “Big Me,” “Monkey Wrench,” “Breakout,” “Walk” and “Learn to Fly,” which contains the fitting lyric, “Make my way back home and learn to fly.”
Having made his way back home, Grohl recalled buying jumbo crabs at the fish market as he praised the new Wharf neighborhood along the Southwest Waterfront.
He then gave a special shoutout to Hurwitz by singing “My Hero” toward his balcony box. Hurwitz then came down on stage, hopped on the drums and jammed with the band.
As the show reached its halfway point, Grohl hammed to the crowd, saying, “Act Two.”
From there, he pivoted into “Times Like These,” bringing goosebump moments of reflection on such a historic night: “It’s times like these you learn to live again. It’s times like these you give and give again. … It’s times like these, time and time again.”
This was followed by more 21st century hits with “Congregation” and “Best of You,” which featured the pained opening lyric, “I’ve got another confession to make!”
By the time all of his confessions were done, Grohl hated to say farewell.
“We never say goodbye,” Grohl said. “We just say this …”
Cue the iconic strum of “Everlong,” which captured the crowd’s once-in-a-lifetime joy:
“If anything could ever feel this real forever, if anything could ever be this good again. The only thing I’ll ever ask of you, you gotta promise not to stop when I say when.”
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