Screenshot: YouTube
It was roughly 2007 when Rick Rolling became a thing. Needless to say we never thought a band as epic as the Foo Fighters would be taking part, especially ten years later.
At least you know that if the Foo Fighters are going to do anything, they’re going to do it ‘bad ass.’
The same holds true when the Foo Fighters decided to ‘Rick Roll’ their audience Sunday at Tokyo’s Summer Sonic fest with a cover of “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley… WITH RICK ASTLEY.
The crowd went nuts while Rick and Foo Fighters went completely bad ass using the chord progression from “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”
How much of this performance was planned in advance? Who knows. Grohl proclaims on stage in the video, “This is fu**ing crazy … I just met [Astley] two minutes ago.”
Of course while this is the first known Astley-Foo tandem, it’s not the first time Grohl and his 80s-pop loving mates Rick Rolled a crowd.
The Foo Fighters blasted “Never Gonna Give You Up” from the speakers of a flatbed truck as they drove past Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas City back in 2015. The group was protesting the band’s concert. Therefore, Grohl told the Sprint Arena crowd that night, “We figured, you know what, why don’t we just fu**ing rickroll their ass? Cause nothing says love like a little Rick Astley in your life, you know what I’m saying? Never gonna give his ass up!”
Both instances beat my Rick Roll coffee house performance from 2009. Could I have been more emo!?
Now give this a listen: Emotional Drunk Guy Gets Pulled Up On Stage To Sing With Foo Fighters
Josh Helmuth is the editor of Crave Sports and a contributor for Mandatory. He no longer owns a Paramore t-shirt.