Before the Trini Lopez and the signature 335, there was the 90s black Gibson Explorer – this was Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters guitar and the foundation for the first era of the band. Then it was fazed out, until now.
At the band's recent triumphant Wembley Stadium show on 22 June Grohl was playing a black Explorer again, but this one was different.
In the footage above, uploaded to YouTube by Fastphotos, Grohl strapped on the mysterious new model for a thunderous rendition of Stacked Actors, from 1999 third Foos album There Is Nothing Left To Lose – a record the band recorded as a trio with Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel and late drummer Taylor Hawkins.
Introducing the song as one for "old school fans" as a sign of the "deep cuts" from their catalogue that would be aired that night, our eyes were immediately drawn to the streamlined controls. Who needs tone controls anyway?
Whether this is a custom model ordered by Grohl for some older songs, or if it could be an early peak at something that could be a production model, we have no idea right now. But seeing as the recent Epiphone Dave Grohl ES-335 has proved to be a huge success for the company, more Grohl signature guitars would surely be a canny decision.
Either way, we're glad to see the Explorer and Stacked Actors back in the Foo's sets.
