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Foo Fighters Intimate NY Gig Highlights “Your Favorite Toy”

5/2/2026

49 4 Full Breakdown

Summary

Foo Fighters Live

Foo Fighters played at Irving Plaza in New York on April 30, promoting Your Favorite Toy.
Dave Grohl opened with “Winnebago” while Ilan Rubin debuted “Window” and showed drumming.
The set featured six album songs and the tracks “Exhausted” and “A320” from the 1998 Godzilla film.
The diverse crowd moshed and sang along throughout the set.
Reviewers said the show felt purer than Foo Fighters’ stadium dates on the tour.

Summary

Foo Fighters Secret

Tickets opened at 10 a.m. on show day and sold out Irving Plaza’s 1,200 seats.
Organizers billed the gig as a secret show with one-day notice, used a spartan “FF” logo backdrop, and displayed three decades of Foo Fighters gear at merch tables.
Grohl linked the two-and-a-half-hour set to milestones such as his Hall of Fame induction, Madison Square Garden’s post-COVID reopening, and Taylor Hawkins’ 2022 death.

Summary

Grohl's Upheaval

Dave Grohl disclosed in 2024 that he fathered a child outside his marriage, while the band fired drummer Josh Freese after a 2025 tour and hired Ilan Rubin months later.
A sold-out Citi Field show with 42,000 fans was stopped by rain and lightning two years earlier.
The Independent expects “Your Favorite Toy” to top charts, calling it aggressive, fast-paced punk with distorted vocals, per AP reporter Dennis Waszak Jr.

Summary

Foo Fighters Tour

The band announced a schedule headlining two May festivals, a European tour June-July, and a 13-city U.S. stadium run in August.
New York tickets sold only at Irving Plaza for $30 each.
Dave Grohl directed the “Spit Shine” video starring his daughter Harper and thirty friends.
The set opened with “Winnebago,” a 1992 Late! track.
Grohl joked about “dad rock” label, exclaiming “Jesus Christ, New York” after “The Pretender” sparked a frenzy.

History

Historical Context

After Nirvana’s groundbreaking MTV Unplugged performance—recorded on November 18 1993, aired December 1993, and released as a #1 album on November 1 1994—Dave Grohl’s Foo Fighters revived the intimate-show model with a secret gig at New York’s Irving Plaza on April 30 2024. The 1,200-seat concert echoes the acoustic format that reshaped 1990s alternative cultural rock for generations.

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Foo Fighters Live

Foo Fighters played at Irving Plaza in New York on April 30, promoting Your Favorite Toy.
Dave Grohl opened with “Winnebago” while Ilan Rubin debuted “Window” and showed drumming.
The set featured six album songs and the tracks “Exhausted” and “A320” from the 1998 Godzilla film.
The diverse crowd moshed and sang along throughout the set.
Reviewers said the show felt purer than Foo Fighters’ stadium dates on the tour.

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