Dave Grohl recalls flying from Australia to LA mid-tour to take his daughters to a dance


Dave Grohl has recalled how he once flew from Australia to LA during a Foo Fighters tour to make sure he could take his daughters to a father-daughter dance.

The Foos frontman was speaking to Blink-182‘s Mark Hoppus for the latter’s Apple Music show After School Radio when he recounted the tale, which took place some five years ago.

“I had to fly back from Australia for one day to take my kids to the daddy-daughter dance,” Grohl recalled. “It was ridiculous. I could not not go to this daddy-daughter dance, it was not an option. And I told everybody, ‘I’m sorry, we’re going to have to cancel that Perth stadium [show] because I have to do this thing’.”

Grohl said that he and Foos’ tour manager Gus Brandt came up with a plan where they would both head straight from the band’s gig in Adelaide to hop on a jet, which took them to Sydney to then catch a flight to LA in time for the dance.

“Going to this dance, the kids didn’t even care I was there,” he continued. “They were like, ‘Okay, dad. Bye.’ And then [I] go straight back to the plane and then land in Australia, and literally have a show in four hours. It was ridiculous.”

foo fighters
Dave Grohl performs onstage as The Foo Fighters reopen Madison Square Garden on June 20, 2021 in New York City (Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for FF)

The flight back to Australia didn’t go smoothly, however, as Grohl revealed that he came down with food poisoning.

“We get on the flight back to Australia and I’m like, ‘I’m just going to drink a bottle of wine and pass out. I’m just going to sleep for 15 hours. This is going to be great,’” he recalled. “And within three or four hours, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I felt like someone was stabbing me in the stomach’. I had the gnarliest food poisoning three hours into a flight to Sydney. It was the worst-case scenario.”

Grohl said that he then had to play Foos’ next show soon after they landed (which he prepared for by “chugging a Guinness”), which turned out to be the final show on the tour – following six hours’ sleep, Grohl flew back to LA the next day.

Grohl also spoke with Hoppus about his usual pre-gig rituals, saying that he currently misses having his friends backstage due to coronavirus restrictions.