What started as a disastrously rainy day, with huge thunderstorms and heavy rain (that Dave Grohl admittedly watched all morning in bed in his underwear), eventually made way to a simple, somewhat comfortable, but still grey, cloudy day.

This was a big day, not just because of the concert, not just because of the bands playing, but because of the fact it’s a stadium show in Cleveland, Ohio (my hometown). I’ve been working alongside Live Nation events to publish “Rock on the Wire” for around seven years now, and this is the first stadium show I’ve been to in the city. Not because I don’t get to many, but because this is only about the third this stadium has had, and fourth or fifth the city has had since I’ve been alive (one or two were in the baseball stadium, and I’m not counting the two country shows in the Rock N’ Roll capital of the world, literally next to the Rock and Roll hall of fame). Hopefully, this is breaking the airlock to start something awesome, and potentially getting more and more of these events as our football stadium transfers to the dome!

Anyway, this was another massive, long show at HUBAFI (Huntington Bank Field), home of the Cleveland Browns, stretching from 4pm-11pm, music playing from 5:30-11pm.

Before we get into the show breakdown though, how about a quick inspection of the facilities, shall we?

The Seats

I understand why they want a new stadium when it comes to the seats. These are very much old plastic seats, with a pad glued to them (in the club section, at least). So in short, these kinda suck, and it feels like you’re sitting on a hernia pad elevated off your seat.

The Food

They had Dr.Pepper, so basically the concessions already past the test, ESPECIALLY when you ger the unlimited refills cup. We just got a basic little double burger box from Symon’s Burger joint, which was very good, and has some sort of “Symon’s Secret Sauce” that’s basically a significantly better version of the big mac sauce (Thousand Island dressing).

The Views/Seating

I don’t believe there’s a bad seat in the house when it comes to these football stadiums – the floor seats seemed kinda awkwardly set up, like, in corners behind lighting and speaker truss’ / towers – but aside from that everything seemed like a head on full-faced view of the entire show on all sides & levels.

The Bathrooms

The Club Section did have copious amounts of potties with less people around then the usual, more general areas of the stadium. I have to add though, almost every toilet during my inspection, in the club section, which (I’d think) would be better taken care of then the rest of the bathrooms, were hard piss, almost crunch stained yellow. Yeah, I’m looking forward to the new stadium.

With the stadium Inspection done, I believe it’s time for….

A Show Breakdown:

Mannequin Pussy:

They were one of the best openers I’ve heard in my seven years of writing these articles, and honestly, one of the best openers I’ve ever heard. They were full of energy, had very well written and catchy music, and played with purpose like Goddesses (and Gods) of rock n’ roll, jamming through their whole set, and giving me a whole bunch of new music that I added to my mixtape playlist after the show.

The Set List:

1. Softly

2. Drunk II

3. Romantic

4. Sometimes

5. I Got Heaven

6. Of Her

7. Aching

8. OK? OK! OK? OK!

9. Loud Bark

Queens of the Stone Age:

A fan favorite, and a group I’m sure you’ve heard if you’ve ever come in contact with a radio (no one knows, song for the dead, feel good hit of the summer). They delivered another solid performance, and closing it out with the hits. Deep down I knew I was more of a casual fan of the group, very much liking a lot of the hard hitting tracks from “Songs for the Deaf” & “Rated R“, but that fact really did come to the surface during this set, as I did not personally know quite a few songs the people around me seemed to be rocking out all night. Nonetheless! This was still a bucket list band because of those tunes I did grow up on, and it was very throwback-feeling to see Josh Homme Smoking a cigarette on stage at the end of their set.

The Set List:

1. Paper Machete

2. Smooth Sailing

3. My God Is the Sun

4. Domesticated Animals

5. Make It Wit Chu

6. Easy Street
(First time being played live since being released on July 14th, 2026)

7. Little Sister

8. I Appear Missing

9. Go With the Flow

10. No One knows

11. A Song for the Dead

Foo Fighters:

The Main Event started just after 8pm, and rocked the Rock N’ Roll Capital of the world for three straight hours, playing the hits, a few deep tracks, and some oldies. The show was incredibly long (the second time I’ve said that; first being Green Day’s “Saviors” Tour, where the group played their albums “Dookie” and “American Idiot” in their entirety, plus some other fam favorites and new tracks from the “Saviors” album.

I’d like to think (if it hasn’t been confirmed) that this is the band’s version of somewhat protesting the massive ticket price hikes. Though, it’s something they can’t control, and try to mediate as much as possible, they can control (and do/are) giving you the inflated prices’ worth of a show, playing for almost four hours.

Anyway, some highlights of the show included getting to see Dave Grohl step back behind the drum kit, learning what band the members previously came from, as well as hearing some of the music from the members’ previous bands (including “No use for a name” and “Germs“), and a massive fireworks display during the last chorus of “Everlong”.

The band mercilessly rocked the hell out of the stadium, barely stopping for even a second, as Dave’s massive stage presence commanded the attention of the audience, and pumped excitement and energy into the entire stadium throughout the performance.

Regardless of touring in support of their newest album “Your Favorite Toy“, the band largely relied on their greatest hits instead of recent releases, again, keeping everyone drawn in, with next to no “bathroom break songs”.

Ending with a fireworks show, the actual show came to a conclusion with a tribute to their late drummer Taylor Hawkins as the band played their 1999 hit “Aurora“.

The Set List:

1. All My Life

2. The Pretender

3. Times Like These

4. Rope

5. Stacked Actors

6. My Hero

7. Learn to Fly

8. These Days

9. Walk

10. This Is a Call

11. No Son of Mine (with Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades” snippet)

B-Stage

12. Wheels
(Acoustic; dedicated to Dave’s grandparents after he visited their graves the day prior)

13. . Marigold (Late! cover)

14. Big

15. Under You (Dave Solo)

16. La Da

17. Run

18. Invincible / Seven /
One Headlight /
Manimal / Tap Dancing in a Minefield (band introductions; Dave on drums & llan on guitar for “Tap Dancing in a field”)

19. Monkey Wrench (Drum solo outro)

20. Breakout

21. The Sky Is a Neighborhood

22. Aurora (Dedicated to Taylor Hawkins)

23. Best of You

Encore

24. The Teacher (Dedicated to Dave’s mother, Virginia, and the state of Ohio)

25. Everlong (with fireworks)

Come hang with COTW at our next show in Detroit for the My Chemical Romance “Black Parade” Tour! (Go to Chewingonthewire.com and Click the TickPick logo at the bottom of any of our articles for $10 your first TickPick order!)