Intentionally or not, Dave Grohl has just stirred a hornet’s nest.
There he was headlining the London Stadium on Saturday night on the Foo Fighters latest UK tour and he makes one little joke about Taylor Swift, who that same evening is playing Wembley Stadium just up the road.
Halfway through his set, he said: ”We were joking about the Taylor Swift tour earlier. I know that she’s on her 'Eras Tour'. I’m telling you man; you don’t want to suffer the wrath of Taylor Swift.
Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl implies that Taylor Swift doesn’t play live during the band’s show in London:“We like to call our tour the Errors Tour […] because we actually play live” pic.twitter.com/O2FTdgGw8CJune 23, 2024
"So we like to call our tour the ‘Errors Tour' because I feel like, we’ve had more than a few eras, and more than a few fucking errors as well. Just a couple. That’s because we actually play live. What?"
He then went on to add: “I’m just saying, you guys like raw, live rock ‘n’ roll music, right? You came to the right fucking place."
Swift couldn’t help but respond to this little dig and after receiving an early standing ovation at her Sunday night show at Wembley said, pointedly: “Every one of my band members, every single one of our crew, my band who’s gonna be playing live for you for 3 and a half hours tonight, they deserve this so much.
"And so does every one of my fellow performers. And you just gave that to us so generously, we will never forget it.”
All things considered, a classy response. But then her army of fans, the so-called Swifties, administered a thorough kicking to the Foo Fighters leader on social media.
Taylor Swift before performing ‘thanK you aIMee’ at the Eras Tour in London:“Everytime somebody talks sh*t it just makes me work even harder” pic.twitter.com/NpFmA20sxkJune 22, 2024
Grohl and Swift are hardly competing in the same market and there’s no history of bad blood between the two, so what’s caused this sudden outbreak of hostilities?
Well, according to social media it could date back to earlier this year when a comment by Dave Grohl’s 17-year-old daughter - who’s been performing on stage with dad on this current tour - went viral. Violet Grohl postedabout Swift flying her private jet, “why can’t Taylor Swift just drive like everyone else’. The Swifties went ballistic. Death threats were allegedly sent and the singer herself remained silent on the issue.
Wow I wonder what prompted Dave Grohl to take a little swipe at Taylor Swift? I’m sure it’s totally unprovoked & not at all to do with his 17-year-old daughter being relentlessly trolled & sent death threats from Swifties because of this totally innocuous tweet back in January. pic.twitter.com/NJetVw9aa2June 23, 2024
Meanwhile, the Foo Fighters wrap up their UK tour with dates in Cardiff tomorrow night and Birmingham on Thursday. Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras tour moves onto Europe this week and returns for another four nights at Wembley in August.
