Josh Freese dropped his drumstick in the middle of a solo during a Foo Fighters concert in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 25. The drummer shared the moment where he kept playing with one stick for a while on Instagram and wrote:
“Drummers, if you’re going to drop a stick, make sure the spotlight is on you and you’re in the middle of a drum solo. That’s always the best time. Stay tuned to the end when I laugh with Nate and Dave and jokingly blame it on the ‘massage sauce’ (lotion) that must’ve caused the mishap. (It couldn’t possibly have just been clumsiness!) Nate and I were talking about just that right before the show.”
Josh Freese Replacing Taylor Hawkins
Foo Fighters introduced Josh Freese as their new drummer a year after Taylor Hawkins’ passing in 2022. The decision received mixed reactions online though the band members and other musicians like Wolfgang Van Halen defended Freese.
The drummer himself responded to the criticism in a chat with Rick Beato:
“On my children’s lives, I had zero plans of being called to be the drummer. And everyone and their mother — my neighbor walking the dog, ‘Hey Josh, the Foo Fighters call you yet?’ Other people hitting me up, other drummers, Reddit forums, ‘Josh Freese is gonna be the guy.’ I’m going, ‘I don’t even know if they’re gonna continue on [after Taylor’s death].’”
Freese Didn’t Force Himself Into The Lineup
Freese played with Foo Fighters at the Taylor Hawkins tribute shows in London and Los Angeles before becoming a full-time member in 2023. He recalled:
“I wasn’t gonna be another guy coming at Dave [Grohl], going, ‘So dude, if you need a drummer, I’m around. I’m just saying.’ I didn’t mention it once and was busy enough and making a good enough living already that I wasn’t freaked out about it. I wasn’t going, ‘God, I hope they call. I hope they call.’ I was, like, ‘You know what? Whatever happens is gonna happen.’ And that’s how I kind of like to roll.”
Now, Foo Fighters are touring the US for some festival dates with Josh Freese. Their next performance is at Target Field in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on July 28.