Chris Shiflett seized the opportunity to emulate his electric guitar hero, Eddie Van Halen, earlier this week as Foo Fighters began their UK tour in Manchester.
Their 24-song setlist included all the Foos hits you’d have expected, but a brief nod to Eruption probably wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card.
As it so happened, Shiflett blended some of Eruption’s classic fretboard runs into a crowd-pleasing introductory guitar solo – minus the two-handed tapping, as he opted to pick it instead.
As he rung out the excerpt’s last few notes, delivered on a Seymour Duncan-loaded Gibson Les Paul gifted to him by their frontman, Dave Grohl took to the mic to say: “I’m not sure how that applies to what we do, but he’s a fucking great guitar player!”
Speaking to Guitar World a few years back, Shiflett spoke about how “Foo Fighters isn’t a band that has a lot of guitar solo-type stuff – on my own material, I do a lot more of that.”
At the time, he added he wishes he could “play like Eddie Van Halen, but I think that’s an unattainable goal,” which probably explains the slight change of tact for tackling Eddie’s showpiece.
Another surprise addition to the set was a never-heard-before song, Unconditional. A representative of the band told the website Consequence of Sound that the song was “partially written and demo’d during home studio sessions years ago – but ultimately left unfinished.
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
“The song came up in conversation during rehearsals for the UK tour, and all it took was one run-through. The decision was made instantly to share it with everyone in the same way – live.”
Shiflett, meanwhile, has recently been road-testing a prototype of a new affordable version of his signature Telecaster, which he has teased “sounds really good.”
The Foo Fighters will play a second Manchester show on June 15, with dates in Glasgow, London, Cardiff, and Birmingham ahead of them.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
>>> Read full article>>>
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source : GuitarWorld – https://www.guitarworld.com/news/chris-shiflett-eruption-foo-fighters-les-paul
