Dave Grohl - Utter Legend

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At the school my boys attend is a family whose daughter Costello Syndrome, a rare disorder that has got to the point she is terminally ill.  Every year her family go to Glastonbury.  Her and her dad's favourite band are The Foo Fighters.  Her mother faced with loosing her child naturally started to questioning her beliefs and became incredibly depressed.  Her way of digging herself out of the hole was to start an online blog as well as becoming active in rights for terminally ill patients under the DLA and fund raising.

This year, as you'll have figured after reading the first few lines on this post Daisy (the daughter) and her family were devastated that the Foo Fighters had to  pull out of what would have been their perfect gig and most likely last gig.  However this paled into insignificance when they also discover that the father is near the end of his fight with terminal cancer.

Out of all out this crap came a twist of events that have thoroughly put a smile on their faces.  Jo Whiley picked up on a blog discussing their disappointment at missing the Foo Fighters, following Dave's leg break and retweeted it.  This was in turn noticed by the Foo Fighters who send them a VIP invitation to their Milton Keynes gig.  Not only were they absolutely treat like kings but Dave spent time with them, genuinely interested and sympathetic as well as adding a bit of fun into their lives.  At no point did they feel Dave was going through the motions.  Something like this is easy to see as "not much to give" but considering the amount of talentless prima donnas I have come across, the joy this bought to a family living a nightmare makes him an utter legend IMO.

therose789

I really like Dave Grohl, he seems like a really nice guy and very grounded & the fact that I didnt know about this until you wrote about it says a lot about his character, he was doing it for the family not for his own publicity! 

Sounds like that family are having a really tough time. I can't even begin to imagine how they feel. 

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therose789 said:

I really like Dave Grohl, he seems like a really nice guy and very grounded & the fact that I didnt know about this until you wrote about it says a lot about his character, he was doing it for the family not for his own publicity! 

It's one of the best parts about it for me.  Lot's of photos were taken for them to remember it but the haven't been splashed all off Foo Fighter blogs saying "How great are we?".  It seems even in a world full of media hungry celebs and publicists some people can genuine understand what is really important.

Unfortunately the family's fate is unchangeable but the journey there is all they can effect and a gesture like this has had a massively positive impact on them.

thomasross20

Wow, kudos to grohl!

mart

That's lovely to hear. I'm no great fan of the Foos, but Grohl does seem a genuinely lovely chap, and this is a wonderful to have done.

Deijavoo

Well played Dave.

scrumhalf

mart said:

That's lovely to hear. I'm no great fan of the Foos, but Grohl does seem a genuinely lovely chap, and this is a wonderful to have done.

Spot on. He seems to have so much enthusiasm for what he does, but also recognises that others have the same enthusiasm for what he does and give him money to carry on doing it.

BigMonka

What an amazing story, he really is a legend. Being a dad himself probably helped, like Amir Khan doing stuff for the refugees having seen that tragic dead boy picture and thinking of his own child.

Teetonetal

Not a Foo fan, but hearing that story leave me full of admiration and respect for Dave Grohl. It is an easy thing for him to do, but just because it's easy doesn't mean he hasn't deeply touched a families lives in a massively positive way.

Great story.

stonevibe

My brother has met Dave and shared a bottle of wine with him and Debbie Harry (my brother was doing Blondie's radio promotion in the UK & Europe for nearly a year and so hung out with her and Chris a lot). He said Dave was really nice bloke and very easy to get along with. So no facade and a genuinely nice human being.

Moss

I've got a friend who met him at Glastonbury - Dave bought him lunch and hung around with him for about an hour. He is one of very few artists who seems genuinely a great person without any kind of an ego

ICBM

It's a real shame I find it impossible to like the Foo Fighters, because he's just a really great bloke by all accounts.

Very refreshing considering the number of our musical heroes who turn out to be not such nice people.

breakstuff

Great story RHC.

What a gent.

robwright

He does seem to deserve the 'nicest man in rock' tag! What a thoroughly decent chap!

robwright

ICBM - surely there are some Foos tunes you like? Everlong, The Pretender, the one with the video in the plane?

As an aside, how many rock stars would make themselves look so hideous for that video? He seems to be totally ego-free.

Hootsmon

RHC....what do you do Bro....studio work?

ICBM

robwright said:

ICBM - surely there are some Foos tunes you like? Everlong, The Pretender, the one with the video in the plane?

No. I just don't like his voice, how he uses it and the way they arrange everything. Just not my thing - I'm not a fan of that whole style of music so it's not as if they could just change something small and I'd like them.

I really enjoyed that Sound City documentary and the Sonic Highways series where they went around America exploring the musical history though, even though there was some of their music in it .

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hootsmon said:

RHC....what do you do Bro....studio work?

Sex work mainly.  Although I have worked in and out (ooh er) of studios for the past 20 years.  Met some lovely legend and the real dickish wannabes and everything in between.  I've never met Dave himself but know plenty who have who say he's lovely but that could have just been in a working context. 

Hootsmon

studio as musician or enginearly?