When and where was Foo Fighters' first ever UK gig?

4 July 2024, 12:00

Dave Grohl performing with Foo Fighters at Pukkelpop Festival, Belgium, August 1995. Picture: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images

Foo Fighters released their debut album on this day in 1995, can you remember when they they first played in the UK?

By Radio X

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Foo Fighters will mark their 30th anniversary as a band this year, and have recently returned to the UK to play some long-awaited live dates.

The Foos first began in 1994 as the solo project of former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, but from it emerged one of the biggest bands of the last two decades, who've gone on to play stadiums and festivals across the globe.

The Learn To Fly rockers are loved as much on this side of the pond as they are in the States, but do you know where and when the Foos first performed in the UK?

Find out more about Foo Fighters' first ever UK gig and what they played here.

A ticket stub from Foo Fighters' first ever UK gig at Kings College London on 3 June 1995. Picture: Press

What was Foo Fighters' first ever UK gig?

Foo Fighters' first UK gig saw them play King's College London Students' Union on 3rd June 1995.

Tickets were only £7 each and included entrance to a club night called COLLIDE-A-SCOPE. Doesn't get much more 90s than that does it?

As the ticket stub above shows, the band came on after a support act, and according to Radio X fan Chris Steers, the band was Bivouac.

Foo Fighters in 1995: Pat Smear, Nate Mendel, Dave Grohl and William Goldsmith. Picture: Mick Hutson/Redferns/Getty Images

What did Foo Fighters play at their first ever UK gig?

Apart from their famous frontman, the original line-up of Foo Fighters included another fomer Nirvana member, their latter-day second guitarist Pat Smear. Completing the line-up were bassist Nate Mendel and the short-lived drummer William Goldsmith, who would be replaced by the late Taylor Hawkins in 1997.

According to setlist.fm, the band kicked things off with This Is a Call, which was to be the opening track from their eponymous debut.

Foo Fighters - This Is A Call

The song itself was serviced to radio two days later, before getting its official release on 19th June.

The band's self-titled LP followed on 4th July, so - unless they'd been to any of the band’s previous eleven gigs - it's very likely the crowd wouldn’t have known ANY of Foo Fighters' original music at all.

Also featuring on the setlist from the now-famous album were the likes of I'll Stick Around, Big Me, Alone + Easy Target, For All The Cows and Exhausted.