Last night, Dave Grohl brought his all-star Sound City Players to New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom for an extended showcase of the featured players’ hits. The band was assembled to help promote Grohl’s new documentary Sound City, regarding the legendary LA studio of the same name. The band was comprised of the complete Foo Fighters touring lineup, plus Grohl’s Nirvana bandmate Krist Novoselic, Alain Johannes (Eleven, Queens Of The Stone Age), Chris Goss (Masters of Reality), Brad Wilk (Rage Against The Machine), Lee Ving (Fear), Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Rick Springfield, John Fogerty, and Stevie Nicks.

The show began and was interspersed with clips from the documentary that served to both highlight the film as well as introduce the featured players. The first set was led by Johannes on vocals and guitar, joined at first by the Foo’s Nate Mendel on bass, Taylor Hawkins on drums, Rami Jafee on keys and Jessy Greene providing backup vocals, plus Grohl on lead guitar. Following the opening number, the original “A Trick With No Sleeve” from the Sound City soundtrack, Grohl switched to bass, Greene added violin and the Foo’s Chris Shiflett came out to add guitar while Mendel sat out for the remaining set of Eleven and QOTSA tunes.

The following set brought out Goss on guitar and vocals and Wilk on drums, backed by Johannes on bass, Grohl and Shiflett on guitar, and Jafee on keys. The band ripped through a selection of Masters of Reality tunes, with another soundtrack original mixed in. Kicking the tempos up a notch, the next set featured Ving on guitar and vocals, backed by Hawkins on drums, Johannes on bass, and Grohl and Pat Smear on guitar. The appearance of Smear at this point in the set was significant, as his first band The Germs came from the same late-70’s LA punk scene as Fear, and the two hardcore veterans clearly enjoyed sharing the stage with each other. Following the original “Your Wife Is Calling,” the band demonstrated their common roots in punk, tearing through a set of Fear classics with exceptional authenticity, kicking off with “I Love Livin’ in the City.”

The response was particularly loud for the emergence of Nielsen on guitar and Novoselic on bass for the subsequent set. Reuniting the Nirvana rhythm section, the rest of the band consisted of Grohl on drums and Smear on guitar, with Hawkins gleefully handling the vocal duties. The combination of the familiar tunes with the lineup of musicians playing them, brought the crowd energy up for a set of Cheap Trick standards, with a Fats Domino cover thrown in. The universal inclination to sing along led Wilk to jump on a mic to sing backup on the set-closing “Surrender.”

From this point on, the Foo’s touring lineup played backing band for the remaining featured performers. The first of those sets was led by a spry Rick Springfield, performing a soundtrack original, a Sammy Hagar cover, and a trio of his own tunes capped off by the hit “Jessie’s Girl.” Springfield was followed by Fogerty who led the band through an extended set of Creedence classics. The final set was led by Nicks, and opened with her 1981 duet with Tom Petty, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” with Grohl covering Petty’s part of the tune. Following the final soundtrack original of the night, Nicks closed out the show with a trio of Fleetwood Mac classics.

Here’s a look at last night’s setlist

Alain Johannes w/ Grohl, Hawkins, Jafee, Greene, Mendel/Shiflett
A Trick With No Sleeve (original)
Why (Eleven)
All My Friends (Eleven)
Hangin’ Tree (Queens Of The Stone Age)
Reach Out (Eleven)
 
Chris Goss and Brad Wilk w/ Johannes, Grohl, Shiflett, Jafee
She Got Me (Masters of Reality)
It’s Shit (MoR)
Domino (MoR)
Time Slowing Down (original)
The Blue Garden (MoR)
 
Lee Ving w/ Johannes, Hawkins, Grohl, Smear
You Wife Is Calling (original)
I Love Livin’ in the City (Fear)
Gimme Some Action (Fear)
Beef Bologna (Fear)
I Don’t Care About You (Fear)
Foreign Policy (Fear)
 
Rick Nielsen and Krist Novoselic w/ Grohl, Smear, Hawkins, Jafee
Hello There (Cheap Trick)
Stiff Competition (Cheap Trick)
I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick)
Ain’t That A Shame (Fats Domino)
Surrender (Cheap Trick)
 
Rick Springfield w/ Foo Fighters
The Man That Never Was (original)
I’ve Done Everything for You (Sammy Hagar)
Love Is Alright Tonite (Springfield)
Love Somebody (Springfield)
Jessie’s Girl (Springfield)
 
John Fogerty w/ Foo Fighters (all Creedence Clearwater Revival songs)
Travelin’ Band
Born On The Bayou
Centerfield
Keep on Chooglin’
Bad Moon Rising
Proud Mary
Fortunate Son
 
Stevie Nicks w/ Foo Fighters
Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (Nicks/Petty)
You Can’t Fix This (original)
Dreams (Fleetwood Mac)
Landslide (Fleetwood Mac)
Gold Dust Woman (Fleetwood Mac)