Watch: Foo Fighters Play First Show With New Drummer Ilan Rubin

Who doesn’t love a secret show? Even better still, what about a show where a band makes their live debut with their new drummer?

• 'Foo Fighters Assemble!!!': Rockers Return To The Studio

Over the weekend (13 September), Foo Fighters played their first show with new drummer Ilan Rubin, confirming reports from July that they’d conducted a kind of drummer’s swap with Nine Inch Nails, as former stickman Josh Freese returned to Trent Reznor and co.

The surprise show went down with little notice, with the band posting a flyer about the show at the 900-capacity Fremont Theatre in San Luis Obispo, California, on social media. It also marked the band’s first show in a year.

Foo Fighters announced the show one day before it took place, informing fans that tickets would be sold via the venue’s box office on the day of the show. Another surprise show will happen today in Santa Ana, California.

Introducing Rubin to the audience, frontman Dave Grohl told the crowd, “Everybody else has said it, I finally get the opportunity to say, ladies and gentlemen, will you please welcome, the most badass motherfucker, Ilan Rubin, is playing drums in the Foo Fighters. It’s official.”

For their first show back in a year and first show with Rubin, Foo Fighters delivered rarities and the hits for fans.

Among the deep cuts were Exhausted and a cover of Late!’s Winnebago, both played for the first time since 2014, Have It All (last performed in 2015), and Alone + Easy Target, performed for the first time since 2018.

You can check out the setlist and videos from the performance below.

Foo Fighters on Saturday, 13 September at the Fremont Theatre, San Luis Obispo, California, Setlist:

1. All My Life

2. Rope

3. Have It All (first time since 2015)

4. Times Like These

5. Wattershed

6. Stacked Actors

7. La Dee Da

8. These Days

9. The Pretender

10. Walk

11. My Hero (preceded by band introductions)

12. Learn To Fly

13. Rescued

14. Aurora

15. This Is A Call

16. No Son Of Mine (with Motorhead’s Ace Of Spades interpolation)

17. Shame Shame

18. White Limo

19. Winnebago (Late! cover) (first time since 2014)

20. Best Of You

Encore:

21. Alone + Easy Target (first time since 2018)

22. Low

23. Monkey Wrench

24. Exhausted (first time since 2014)

25. Everlong