After taking a nasty tumble off stage in Gothenburg, Sweden, Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl suffered a broken leg, yet decided to carry out the show through his damages. Four days after the fall, Grohl penned an open letter describing the extent of his injuries and to his dismay, the cancellation of five European shows--doctor's orders.
Posted to the Foo Fighters' official site, Grohl's letter shows off the musician's sense of humor, "Wound up feet first over the Edge (pun intended), dropping about 12 feet, dislocating my ankle and snapping my fibula like an old pair of take out chopsticks," the front man added. "Whoopsie daisy. Not good. Without realizing the extent of my injuries, I stood up to get back onstage and crumbled like a sack of Joe Theismanns (look it up, kiddies). That sh-t was B-R-O-K-E."
Knowing that he couldn't dissatisfy the fans and abruptly end a riveting show, he continued to jam on stage with an EMT holding his leg in place while waiting for a cast to arrive. Once the show wrapped up, Grohl headed to the hospital to welcome six metal screws into his leg, with specific orders to lay low and recover. On Tuesday, the band announced they'd unfortunately have to cancel five approaching gigs including two at London's Wembley Stadium and one headliner at Glastonbury music festival, notes Rolling Stone.
"Like clockwork, the cast arrived, I walked offstage for a song or two as they put it on me, and then came back to finish the gig. Let's just say that singing our song "Walk" with a straight face was pretty g-ddamned hard. "These Days" was a good one, too. (Easy for you to say! Your leg has never been broken!) All in all, it was without a doubt the single most bizarre Foo Fighters show in the entire 20 years of being a band. Hands down. What seemed like a tragedy at first turned into a triumph, and we all walked away with a new sense of appreciation for what we've got," Grohl wrote.
Aside from being bummed about missing gigs, the 46-year-old rocker expressed disappointment for not being able to share the stage with some special guests of his own. Having joined Paul McCartney at the O2 Arena for a rendition of "I Saw Her Standing There," the former Nirvana drummer had hoped to return the favor.
"Before the encore Paul came over and said, 'what song are you coming up to play?' I was like UHHHHHHH - I didn't have a guitar, I'd had like 17 beers. He's like, 'OK, you're doing 'I Saw Her Standing There'. Then he walks back onstage and I'm like F-CK! I turn to one of his techs, they hand me the guitar and they're just like 'GO!' That's how that happened. So if Paul happens to be standing round the side of the stage at Glastonbury, this time it'll be me saying: 'Paul! 'All My Life'! It's in the key of G. Let's go," Grohl told NME.
Apologizing to fans worldwide, he wrote "You know I hate to do it, but I'm afraid it's just not physically possible for me at the moment. We're doing our best right now to work out a plan, so bear with us. You know we're good for our word. But for now, I need to make sure we have YEARS of gigs ahead of us."
In the absence of the Foo Fighters at Wembley Stadium, the tribute band UK Foo Fighters stepped up to play gigs on June 19 and 20 for disappointed fans nearby at Crystal Clubs.
"It's an absolute honour to confirm we will be playing Wembley this Friday and Saturday evening for fans from all over the world who have travelled to London this weekend, and for Dave and Foo Fighters, who we know are gutted not to be playing," the cover band wrote according to NME.
