The Foo Fighters will celebrate a quarter century of rocking next month when they release a career-spanning hits collection, The Essential Foo Fighters. The compilation from Sony Music is due out on Oct. 28 and will serve as the sequel to the band’s 2009 hits album and feature a number of songs not included on the previous one. Among the newer tracks featured on Essential are: “Making a Fire” (2021’s Medicine at Midnight), “Rope” (2011’s Wasting Light), “Cold Day in the Sun” (2006’s In Your Honor), “Shame Shame” (Medicine at Midnight), “Walk” (Wasting Light), “These Days” (Wasting Light) and “The Sky is a Neighborhood” (2017’s Concrete and Gold).
The album will be available on vinyl, CD and digitally with the LP featuring two extra tracks, “Breakout” and “Waiting on a War.”
The band is gearing up to perform at a second all-star tribute concert honoring late drummer Taylor Hawkins. On Sept. 3 they hosted a 6-hour blowout at London’s Wembley Stadium that featured a reunion of Them Crooked Vultures, as well as performances with AC/DC singer Brian Johnson, Oasis’ Liam Gallagher, Sir Paul McCartney, the Pretenders, Nile Rodgers, Wolfgang Van Halen, the Darkness’ Justin Hawkins, singer Dave Grohl’s daughter, Violet Grohl, Supergrass, the reunited James Gang and appearances form the Police’s Stewart Copeland, Travis Barker, Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor and a closing set from the Foos featuring an emotional “My Hero” with Hawkins’ teenage son, Shane, on drums.
The second tribute show is slated to take place at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on Sept. 27 and also includes a large number of Hawkins’ frequent collaborators as well as an army of rock’s hardest drummers. Miley Cyrus, Joan Jett, Mark Ronson, Hawkins’ one-time boss Alanis Morissette, KISS’ Gene Simmons, Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith have signed on.
In addition, the show will feature The Struts singer Luke Spiller, Rage Against the Machine drummer Brad Wilk, The Darkness drummer Rufus Taylor, Mars Volta drummer Jon Theodore and Weezer drummer Pat Wilson and more.
The full track list for the CD version of the Essential collection is:
- “Everlong”
- “Making a Fire”
- “Times Like These”
- “Rope”
- “Monkey Wrench”
- “My Hero”
- “Cold Day in the Sun”
- “Big Me”
- “Long Road to Ruin”
- “Shame Shame”
- “Best of You”
- “All My Life”
- “The Pretender”
- “This is a Call”
- “Walk”
- “Learn to Fly”
- “The Sky is a Neighborhood”
- “These Days”
- “Everlong” (Acoustic Version)
