Last week, Foo Fighters announced their disco alter egos The Dee Gees, a far cry from their stadium-shaking brand of rock ‘n’ roll. Fans lucky enough to catch the band’s headlining set at Madison Square Garden this weekend got to witness the Dee Gee’ live debut by way of a disco cover of The Bee Gees “You Should Be Dancing”. Watch fan footage capturing the moment below, and read our full review here.
Dave Grohl was committed to the bit and hyped the crowd up with an introduction that was both semi-aggressive and 100% playful. “Motherfuckers, tonight we’re gonna give you a little taste of the fucking Dee Gees,” he said, his delivery bringing to mind Jack Black of all people. “Are you ready? I don’t want to see nobody sitting down, ’cause you know what? You should be dancing, motherfuckers.” The band then launched into a funky yet faithful cover of “You Should Be Dancing” that saw Grohl waxing his highest falsetto possible. How his vocal chords survived that, we don’t know.
This isn’t just a bit Foo Fighters did to make fans laugh. Earlier this year, they stopped by BBC Radio 2 to bust out “You Should Be Dancing” for the first time, surprising the hosts and listeners alike with the seemingly random song choice. However, things made a lot more sense when, a few days ago, Foo Fighters announced they had a new album on the way under the moniker The Dee Gees called Hail Satin. It’s a collection of disco covers and live versions of Medicine at Midnight songs, and you can view the complete tracklist here.
Foo Fighters’ headlining performance at Madison Square Garden was the first concert at the iconic New York City venue in more than 460 days. They re-christened the space with a stacked 21-song setlist, not including the three-track encore where they made their live band debut as The Dee Gees. During the show, they also covered Radiohead’s “Creep” with help from Dave Chappelle, busted out an impressive cover of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” after rehearsing it earlier in the month, and dedicated the whole event to their late stage manager Andy Pollard, who passed away days prior.
The soon-to-be Rock and Roll Hall of Famers will hit the road for their highly anticipated 26th anniversary tour later this summer. The six-date trek is scheduled around their headlining spot at Lollapalooza and will preview their September appearances at Bonnaroo and Bottlerock. Grab tickets to those Foo Fighters concerts here.
… the @foofighters unveil the “dee gees” for the first time. pic.twitter.com/acLyLa6KbC
— fake nick ramsey (@nick_ramsey) June 21, 2021
And in their encore, here’s Foo Fighters covering The Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing” pic.twitter.com/NmVkiji59c
— Brian Hiatt (@hiattb) June 21, 2021
