A Modern Rock and Roll Rarity: Foo Fighters at Starland Ballroom for $30

Foo Fighters announced this past Wednesday that the enormously popular rock band would perform two intimate club shows in the New York City area. On Thursday the band would perform at the 1200-capacity Irving Plaza in New York City. On Saturday, the band would perform at the 2500-capacity Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey.

The club shows were two rare opportunities to see Foo Fighters up close. The last time Foo Fighters played New York City was in 2024, before 42,000 fans at Citi Field. That open-air stadium performance was abruptly abbreviated due to a torrential downpour and lightning. The band last performed in New Jersey in 2023, headlining the final day of the Sea.Hear.Now festival on the beach in Asbury Park, before an audience of 35,000 fans.

Old school style, the tickets announced on Wednesday afternoon would go on sale at the two clubs’ box offices the following morning. Early arrivals would receive a wristband that guaranteed the later purchase of tickets. Fans wearing wristbands would be allowed to purchase two tickets for $30 apiece. The fans turned out at both locations and, once the box offices opened on Thursday at 10 a.m., the electronic tickets sold out within an hour.

New York fans caught a break in that wristbands for tickets were distributed at 8 p.m. on Wednesday night, allowing fans to go home and come back at 10 a.m. to purchase the tickets. Fans missing the wristband distribution formed a separate line on Thursday morning, and reportedly about 60 of these fans were able to purchase tickets on Thursday morning.

The line to the Starland Ballroom box office began forming quickly after the announcement. By daybreak, the venue’s parking lot was filled with hundreds of fans, many of whom prepared for a long wait with beach chairs, blankets and umbrellas. To accommodate the massive morning crowd, the venue operators opened the bathrooms and sold bagels.

This week’s two club dates, along with an appearance on the The Late Show with Stephen Colbert television program, would be the launchpad of a worldwide stadium, arena and festival tour promoting Foo Fighters’ 12th studio album. The band released Your Favorite Toy on April 24. Beyond the club dates, the concert tour so far includes no New York/New Jersey dates.

Foo Fighters’ founder, Dave Grohl, became accustomed to playing before large crowds as the drummer of Nirvana in its latter years, from 1990 until the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994 caused the demise of the band. Grohl formed the concept of Foo Fighters as a one-man project in 1994 in Seattle, Washington, but soon added musicians and rapidly found international fame beginning with the debut Foo Fighters album in 1995. Foo Fighters presently consists of vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, guitarists Pat Smear and Chris Shiflett, keyboardist Rami Jaffee and drummer Ilan Rubin.

At Starland Ballroom, Grohl led the musicians onto the stage two minutes after the appointed 8 p.m. set time. He greeted the cheering crowd by promising that “It’s going to be a long night!” Foo Fighters lived up to the promise by performing 23 songs over two and a half hours.

At the start of the concert, Grohl’s voice sounded flat, but once the band started roaring, Grohl found his signature gritty vocals. The band rocked. Unfortunately, lead guitars occasionally were drowned out when the ensemble powered the riffs of a song.

The Foo Fighters set at Starland Ballroom differed just a wee bit from the repertoire two nights earlier at Irving Plaza. In both cases, the band opened with a cover of “Winnebago,” which Grohl first released in 1992 under the pseudonym “Late!” The nights featured several deep cuts like this. The band also introduced four of the new album’s songs, “Caught in the Echo”, “Of All People”, “Window” and the title track, “Your Favorite Toy.”

By far, the older songs received the most response and singalongs from the audience at Starland Ballroom. Rolling Stone conducted a readers poll in 2013 of the most popular Foo Fighters songs, and the band performed all 10 of those songs. “All My Life” and “Times Like These” immediately followed the opening song. “Stacked Actors” was also near the beginning of the concert. The band raucously performed “The Pretender”, “My Hero” and “Learn to Fly” in quick succession. Grohl dedicated “Aurora” to the band’s late drummer, Taylor Hawkins. “Monkey Wrench” and “Best of You” highlighted the end of the main set. The encore included two deep cuts and concluded with “Everlong,” considered the most popular Foo Fighters’ song by Rolling Stone’s readers in 2013.

Between songs, Grohl frequently chatted with the audience. The lengthiest anecdote was about Rubin’s first drum teacher, who was in the audience, who coincidentally years prior inspired Grohl to purchase the yellow drum kit that he played on the Nirvana albums. Grohl also commented on the constant mosh pits and crowd surfing, which he does not see as much at the band’s stadium shows. He also thanked the audience for waiting on line for hours to purchase tickets for the concert.

“What was it, about $30?” Grohl asked humorously midway through the concert. “We’re gonna give you $30 worth tonight.”

The fans got far more than their $30 worth.

All photographs by Nicole DiBendetto

Foo Fighters’ Setlist: May 2, 2026 - Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ

1. Winnebago (Late! cover)
2. All My Life
3. Times Like These
4. Caught in the Echo
5. Of All People
6. Stacked Actors
7. La Dee Da
8. The Pretender
9. My Hero
10. Learn to Fly
11. Window
12. This Is a Call
13. No Son of Mine (with a snippet of Motörhead's "Ace of Spades")
14. Your Favorite Toy
15. These Days
16. Walk
17. Aurora
18. Monkey Wrench
19. Hey, Johnny Park!
20. Best of You

Encore

1. A320
2. Exhausted
3. Everlong

Related Article

Foo Fighters at Madison Square Garden (2018)

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The Manhattan Beat covers New York City's live music circuit. All articles are written by Everynight Charley Crespo. All photographs are taken by Everynight Charley Crespo, except when noted otherwise.

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