Irish man who met Dave Grohl when hitchhiking as a teen realises impact on Foo Fighters' formation

16 August 2024, 12:29

Lorcan Dunne has shared how he encountered Grohl in Ireland while he was hitchhiking in a Nirvana top, but only just realised the impact it had on Grohl after Kurt' Cobain's passing.

A man who encountered Dave Grohl while trying to hitchhike in a remote part of Ireland as a teen has just realised the impact he may have had on the Foo Fighters being formed.

Dave Grohl has long told a story about how he went to Ireland to escape after losing friend and bandmate Kurt Cobain to suicide, but realised he couldn't escape his fate when he bumped into a teen in a Nirvana top with Kurt's face on it.

In a post on X, a user named Eoin Tighe shared the incredible story with the caption: "So my legend of a cousin Lorcan just realised he was kind of important to the creation of @foofighters @FooFightersUK".

He added: "He saw a video by Dave Grohl talking about why he got back to work after a visit to Ireland. Lorcan was out hitchhiking wearing his nirvana top when Dave stopped".

The post includes a throwback photo of a teen wearing the Kurt Cobain top in question, alongside a video with Grohl describing the encounter, which is interspersed with his cousin Lorcan recalling the incredible story among his friends.

Watch the video below, courtesy of Eoin and his sister Claire, who made the edit.

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In the video clip, Grohl begins: "I went to the Ring of Kerry in Ireland where I've been before. It's so beautiful there."

Then, the Irish man labelled as Lorcan Dunne cuts in on the clip: "I think it was '95 or '96. We were down [...] in the Peninsula on a holiday and we hitched up to this place and..."

"And I was driving around in my rental car," Grohl cuts in on the clip, "and on a country road I saw this hitchhiker kid."

Dunne continues: "Anyway I was running ahead and I saw a car there so I thought I'd run up and hitch".

Grohl says: "... And I thought, well maybe I'll pick him up."

Dunne adds: "When I was hitching, I looked into who was sitting in the passenger seat, but it was David Grohl. I didn't recognise him firstly, but I saw this look of shock on the guy's face."

Grohl adds: "And as I got closer to him, I saw that he had a Kurt Cobain T-shirt on..."

"And I was there like this," says Dunne. "I had a Nirvana t-shirt on with Kurt Cobain on it and it was a black tie-dye. The one with Kurt but he has mascara on his face."

Grohl says: "And it was Kurt's face looking back at me in the middle of nowhere."

Dunne goes on: "I saw the look of shock and next thing I know the car was just tearing away and I turned around to Ciaran and was just like, 'It's Dave Grohl, like' And nobody believed me."

His friend interjected in the clip: "So Lorcan said, 'I've just seen Dave Grohl' and I said, 'Absolute bulls***, why would Dave Grohl be in the middle of nowhere?' 'Cause to us it was proper middle of nowhere and I said 'I hope he didn't see that t-shirt".

Grohl continues: "... And I realised like, oh I'm... I can't outrun this."

Dunne goes on: "Then about two weeks ago I saw this video about David Grohl talking about him being in the Ring of Kerry and touring around the area and I was like, there we go. That was me."

"So I need to go home and f***ing get back to work," Grohl adds in the clip. "And so I did."

At the end of the clip of Dunne a woman shouts: "So YOU made the Foo Fighters," to which their group of friends all cheered.

The video ends with a blurry photo of Dunne in the Kurt Cobain top, just as Grohl had described in the Irish landscape.

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The incredible story has garnered quite the response so far, with one user writing: "This is what twitter is for!!! Every time I think I’m out of this cesspool of a website I come across gold like this. Savage stuff."

Eoin replied: "100%. Tonight it feels like Twitter has returned. It’s still there waiting to break out again. Some lovely replies and it just feels like old Twitter again".

His sister Claire explains how the edit came to be, recalling: "we had a family gathering last wknd, and Lorcan having recently seen the vid asked Ciaran if he remembered the time they were hitching and he said he saw Grohl. It all came flooding back -mostly the slagging ! This is literally the first time he’s talked about it since"

Foo Fighters' My Hero at London Stadium - June 2024

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