Foo Fighters launch Europe tour in rural Italy
November 4, 2015
For anyone who thought rock stars were flakey and unreliable, the Foo Fighters have proven you wrong - and given a "once in a lifetime show" in the process.
The American rockers kept a big promise on Tuesday (03.11.2015) by performing a concert in the tiny Italian village of Cesena.
The concert was the result of a very personal - and very elaborate - invitation by 1,000 musicians from the Cesena area. Organized by Fabio Zaffagnini, they filmed a mass rendition of the Foo Fighters' 1999 song "Learn to Fly" in order to convince the Seattle-based band to visit their town of 100,000 on the Adriatic Sea.
Dubbed Rockin'1000, the group celebrated Tuesday's concert - even if they couldn't totally believe that their efforts had paid off.
"We are beyond excited and honored to come play for Cesena," Foo Fighter front man Dave Grohl wrote on Facebook two weeks ago, announcing the unusual gig. "An experience like this comes once in a lifetime, so I'm looking forward to a once in a lifetime show."
Since the Rockin'1000 video was published on YouTube in July, it has gone viral and been viewed over 26 million times - an invitation the Foo Fighters simply couldn't ignore.
"I am super happy, but I still have to recover from what has happened," said Zaffagnini, who met the band in the US in August.
The Foo Fighters' Europe tour officially launches Thursday in Amsterdam, followed by shows in Germany, Poland, Austria, Italy, France, and Spain.