Foo Fighters had two special guests at their Toronto concert Wednesday night at the Molson Canadian Amphitheatre. While Dave Grohl’s mom was brought out onstage last weekend, this time she had some company: Rush frontman Geddy Lee’s mother. The two were sitting next to each other on the stage just off to the side of the action.
A tweet on Rush’s account shows a picture of the two moms and a tweet that appears to come from Lee:
It’s no secret the Foo Fighters have profound love for Rush. So when drummer Taylor Hawkins pointed out that there were more Rush T-shirts in the audience than Foo Fighter shirts and then Grohl announced that they had not one, but two special guests, one couldn’t help but think for a second that it would be Lee and guitarist Alex Lifeson or drummer Neil Peart, who formed Rush in Toronto. But Rush is presently on its R40 Live 40th Anniversary Tour, which hits Kansas City on Thursday night (July 9).
After Grohl revealed the guests were his and Lee's moms, the band launched into a bit of the Rush classic “Tom Sawyer,” during which the ladies were frequently shown on the video screens.
Grohl’s mother was at Foo Fighters’ Fourth of July show at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., the band’s first appearance since Grohl broke his leg in Sweden in June and then resumed the tour by performing while seated on an FF-branded throne. The singer brought his mom out onstage before the song “For All the Cows,” which she originally told him sounded like Richard Marx, he recounted.
In Toronto, she stayed seated for the nearly three-hour show, but he did reference her again onstage for “Arlandria.” While fans might assume he's singing about the state of Virginia where he’s from, he’s actually referencing Virginia Grohl -- his mom. The song includes the line: “My sweet Virginia, I’m the same as I was in your arms/ My sweet Virginia, I’m the same as I was in your heart.”
“Bet you don’t wanna know what the rest of the song is about!” he added.
Grohl also told a cool story early on in the night about his first trip to Toronto at the age of 18 or 19. His punk band (he didn’t mention Scream by name) had a show at the Horseshoe Tavern (it was actually the Rivoli). Their soundcheck was at noon, even though their show was at 11 p.m., and when they got there, someone was putting up Iggy Pop posters. He discovered Pop had a record-release party there that afternoon, but when he asked if he could attend, he was told no.
Instead they were out back when Pop arrived. The punk legend asked if he played drums and knew his music (of course he did). Grohl ended up rehearsing with him and pulled in Scream’s bassist as well. That was the first and only time he’s ever played drums for Pop, he said.
Grohl actually has been onstage with Pop since: He danced with him at a Stooges show in 2011.
The Foo Fighters play another show in Toronto on Thursday night.