Foo Fighters closed out last week's episode of Saturday Night Live with two performances, a fitting midseason ender as the show takes a break for the holidays — it comes back Jan. 13 next year.
One of the performances was a Christmas medley, which included bits of "Everlong," "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)," and "Linus and Lucy." Led by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band also performed "The Sky Is a Neighborhood," which was part of its ninth studio album, Concrete and Gold, released this past September.
Grohl's holiday-themed sweater should've been a dead giveaway. But seeing the surprise unfold was pretty cool. Just before the band entered the second chorus of a slowed-down "Everlong," house lights beamed and "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" started, a Darlene Love track from the 1963 compilation album A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records.
Eventually the performance morphed into "Linus & Lucy," an iconic Vince Guaraldi Trio song from 1954's Jazz Impressions of a Boy Named Charlie Brown that gained widespread popularity through the Peanuts Christmas spinoff A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Watch Foo Fighters's performance of "The Sky Is a Neighborhood," and "Everlong" below.
Foo Fighters went onstage during Cal Jam in early October with Aerosmith's Joe Perry and Liam Gallagher to cover "Come Together" by The Beatles. The band has also released a B-side track during the Concrete and Gold sessions called "Soldier" for the Planned Parenthood compilation album 7-Inches for Planned Parenthood.
The band also announced in October tour dates for the North American leg of its 2018 tour, which ended in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Dec. 12. Beginning Jan. 20, the band will head to different parts of Australia to perform, then fly to Brazil by Feb. 25.
Like Eminem's recently released Revival, Concrete and Gold, which precedes it, is heavily infused with political commentary and themes. In fact, the album is apparently a discussion on the future of the United States from the viewpoint of Grohl, in large part influenced by the highly controversial 2016 presidential election.
Upon release, the album received positive reviews, with music critic Mark Beaumont praising it for being the "most cohesive consume-in-one-sitting Foo Fighters album in a decade." Jon Pareles of The New York Times also was positive of the album, saying that despite its obvious influences, Foo Fighters "still come across as earnest, proficient journeymen, disciples rather than trailblazers."
Concrete and Gold is out now.
