By now, you have probably heard about the Foo Fighters show in Sweden at which Dave Grohl broke his leg. It was a pretty wild night, as Grohl was on and off the stage, performing with his leg being held in place by a paramedic, and later hobbling around on crutches with a cast. On the Foo Fighters website, Grohl wrote a witty, self-effacing letter documenting the whole situation, with a climax that is sure to be a bummer for all Foo Fighters fans.
Grohl rehashes the evening in Sweden, replete with shoutouts to Johan, the paramedic who kept Grohl’s leg stable while he performed and waited for a cast.
… I looked my EMT, Johan in the eyes and said “Well, then you’re coming up there with me right now and holding it in place until they can bring the cast here. Ready?” He stared at me wide-eyed for a second and said, “OK, lets’ go…”
I don’t know who was more scared, me or Johan. 5 minutes later, I don’t know who was having more fun, me or Johan. (I actually looked at him in between songs and said “This is pretty fun, isn’t it?” He smiled and nodded yes.)
However, after he relives that evening, things take a turn for the worse. In the end, Grohl actually had a rather serious leg break, and he needed six screws put into his leg during the surgery. He has been told to “lay low” by his doctors, and that his leg needs rest and elevation (and probably ice and compression). As such, Grohl wrote with lament:
Which means, and it kills me to say it… the doctors have told us to cancel shows. I’m really so sorry, guys. You know I hate to do it, but I’m afraid it’s just not physically possible for me at the moment. We’re doing our best right now to work out a plan, so bear with us. You know we’re good for our word. But for now, I need to make sure we have YEARS of gigs ahead of us…
Foo Fighters had a lot of dates coming up this summer, but now some of them are going to end up canceled. Hopefully Grohl will get back sooner rather than later, but for all the epic rock and roll badass-ery of that night in Sweden, reality has set in.
