Dave Grohl Explains Foo Fighters Cancellations and Why the Band Will (Probably) Never Break Up

The Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl revealed why the band had to pull out of performing at the grand opening of the Fillmore New Orleans on Feb. 15 and 16. During a conversation with Live Nation president and CEO Michael Rapino at the Pollstar Live conference in Los Angeles, the legendary drummer and frontman explained that he finally underwent a much needed surgery roughly a week ago on his left arm.

"This is something I’ve had to deal with for a long time and it’s not the end of the world but I did have to have surgery on my arm because I need it to pay the rent," Grohl told the audience at the Beverly Hilton in California. "I knew I had to fix my arm at some point and I went ahead and did it."

"It's funny having surgery because you actually get a little bit of rest," added the Foo Fighters singer, who most recently played pre-Super Bowl show DirecTV’s Super Saturday Night pre-party concert on Feb. 2 before postponing dates until May. "Right before they wheeled me in [for surgery] the guys said ‘hey, we’re going to give you something that’s going to make you feel really good’ and I thought I finally get to take a nap.”

The surgery, as Grohl explained it, was to keep his arm in good shape for many more years of touring and live performances. Grohl said he honestly doesn’t know the difference between Pandora and Spotify, but understands that the strength of the live experience will never change.

"When you were 20 years old in Thunder Bay, Canada you’d love to go see live music,” Grohl said of Rapino who grew up in the Ontario province. "The excitement of seeing live music, of seeing people on stage, that will never go away. We don’t sell a tenth of the records that we sold 20 years ago, but we sell out fucking stadiums in a lot of places."

Grohl added: “One of the reasons is we’ve been touring for 20 years and we’ve never stopped. You have to establish a base and be faithful to them.”

Rapino commented on the fact that Foo Fighters have extended their base internationally which many bands have fallen short of doing early in their career.

"It’s only work if you don’t want to do it," Grohl said. "I’ve never said ‘Ugh, I have to go on stage and drink whiskey and have 30,000 people sing my songs.’ It’s pretty fucking cool."

The consistent years of recording, touring and working with the Foo Fighters have continued to pay off for the group that enjoys their career and sees no point in disbanding any time soon.

"For the first twenty years of our band it was, let’s make another record and that’s probably going to do it. Let’s get one more in there and call it a day," Grohl said. "Then it gets to the point to where I refer to it like imagine your grandparents getting a divorce. I’m sure it happens sometimes, but why? You can’t break up. Who even cares any more? Just go play shows."