KEY POINTS:
If there's one issue weighing heavy on TimeOut's collective minds this week, apart from who's going to win So You Think You Can Dance, it's why are the Foo Fighters so big?
Don't get us wrong, we like the band led by music's Mr Nice Guy, Dave Grohl. But really, they're just a straightforward rock band who just happen to have a frontman who is the old drummer from Nirvana. Aren't they?
I have to admit, songs like Monkey Wrench, Learn To Fly and My Hero are big ballsy stadium rockers, but do they deserve to be so big?
They are the Bon Jovi of our time, minus the extra suitcase for hairspray.
The Foo Fighters play two sold-out shows this Monday and Tuesday at Vector Arena. And judging by ticket sales to the second show, which sold out weeks ago, they could have done three. That's Justin Timberlake-sized proportions.
The Foos are not quite as big as U2, or even Coldplay. But they're bigger, in more ways than one, than Blunty, who played only one show last night at Vector. Gosh, we really should stop picking on James.
The Foo Fighters phenomenon could be explained simply by the fact Grohl was in Nirvana and now the grunge kids of the early 90s are growing old gracefully with him.
Yes, the Foos have history on their side, but there's more to it than that. Go to their gigs and the age gap is vast and not confined to middle-aged men wearing tatty Nirvana shirts. If you're lucky you might still spot a few cardy wearers a la Kurt Cobain though.
Some of the kids at Foos shows these days are probably the same age as the baby who appeared on the cover of Nevermind when that landmark album came out in 1991.
It was always going to be Grohl, the slightly goofy kid who was into metal, hardcore and the Beatles, who was going to carry on the Nirvana legacy;
he is a master showman and band leader. Back when he formed the Foos in 1995 he didn't even need a band and, apart from a guitar part on X-Static by Afghan Whig Greg Dulli, played all the instruments on the band's self-titled debut.
Perhaps longevity and consistency is the key to the Foos' success.
A colleague has another theory. She likens them to someone who becomes a leader of a movement or a political party by default rather than winning the place. So they're the Don Brash of stadium rock perhaps?
The Independent newspaper went as far as calling them the last great American rock band. Haven't they heard of Queens of the Stone Age? Although Grohl pops up there too, having drummed on the Queens' best album, Songs For the Deaf in 2002.
Grohl's not perfect and he surely has to have control freak tendencies as band leader, but he's not a dick. Fame and fortune have - it seems - not gone to his head. He's a likeable bloke. While I might feel a little nervous having a beer with Bono (and getting an earful about how he's the only person to be nominated for an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, and the Nobel Peace Prize), I'd be more than happy to pull up a bar stool with Grohl. Just ask the Beaconsfield Miners he wrote a song for on the band's latest album, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace. Maybe that's why the Foos are so big, because Grohl's a good bloke. Good a reason as any.
