11 Most Played Cover Songs During Foo Fighters Concerts

If you're going to a Foo Fighters show, you're probably going to see at least one cover song.

But the thing about Dave Grohl and crew is that it never really seems to come off as a gimmick. There's usually some reason for a cover song to appear on a Foo Fighters setlist.

Most often, it is because the original artist had a major influence on Grohl and other band members. The band leader has always been upfront about the bands from his youth that turned him into the musician he is today.

READ MORE: Foo Fighters + Queens of the Stone Age Launch Summer Tour - See Video + Setlists

Here is a look at the cover songs the Foo Fighters have played the most (according to Setlist.fm) and the reason behind their appearance during the shows.

11. 'Tie Your Mother Down'

Original artist: Queen

Times played: 36

First played: Oct. 14, 2005 at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J.

Last played: Sept. 19, 2017 at The O2 Arena in London, England

While multiple members of the Foo Fighters have professed their love for Queen, it was late drummer Taylor Hawkins who was often the most outspoken about his heroes. Hawkins told Mojo in 2019 that Queen's 1979 live album, Live Killers, was his "drum bible" as he was learning his craft.

Hawkins was often called upon to sing lead on Foo Fighters' covers of Queen during live shows before he died in 2022.

10. 'Let There Be Rock'

Original artist: AC/DC

Times played: 47

First played: Jan. 28, 2015 at Mineirao (Esplanada) in Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Last Played: Aug. 25, 2019 at the Reading Festival in Reading, Berkshire, England

When founding AC/DC member Malcom Young died in 2017, Dave Grohl penned a tribute to the guitarist and the band that inspired his playing style. Grohl described how the 1980 AC/DC movie helped shape his outlook about being in a band.

"The film... is everything that live (rock) and roll should be. Sweaty. Loose. Loud. A relentless performance from the perfect band. It was the first time I lost control to music. The first time I wanted to be in a band. I didn't want to play my guitar anymore; I wanted to smash it."

9. 'Under My Wheels'

Original artist: Alice Cooper

Times played: 56

First played: Nov. 7, 2017 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

Last played: June 19, 2019 at Arena in Pula, Croatia

For Halloween in 2017, Grohl dressed as David Letterman to guest host Jimmy Kimmel Live when he interviewed Alice Cooper. He described himself as a "lifelong fan" of Cooper before launching into a story about how he had nightmares about his concerts as a child.

"I had this nightmare when I was six years old. I saw footage of your concert and I had a dream that I was there. And there were cyclops, and there was a conveyor belt of unmentionable something covering you. So before I even bought one of your records, you were already freaking me out."

8. 'Down in the Park'

Original artist: Tubeway Army

Times played: 67

First played: April 25, 1995 at Black Cat in Washington, DC

Last played: Oct. 20, 1997 at Braden Auditorium in Normal, Ill.

The Foo Fighters were among the acts who contributed songs to 1996's Songs in the Key of X: Music From and Inspired by the X-Files. And while most bands on the album submitted original songs to honor the TV show, the Foo Fighters covered Tubeway Army's "Down in the Park."

If that name doesn't sound familiar, you should know the London-based new wave band was around for all of two years. Frontman Gary Numan moved on to do his own thing, releasing the 1979 hit, "Cars."

7. 'In The Flesh?'

Original artist: Pink Floyd

Times played: 72

First played: Sept. 22, 2011 at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio

Last played: Nov. 13, 2015 at Unipol Arena in Casalecchio di Reno, Italy

A cover of Pink Floyd's "In the Flesh?" had a decent run on Foo Fighters' setlists as the band continued to let Hawkins have a song or two to sing each night. The cover was eventually dropped in 2015.

The song opens Pink Floyd's 1979 album, The Wall, and helps set up the story that runs throughout the rest of the tracks. Hawkins told Rolling Stone in 2017 that he first started listening to the band's catalog as a teenager after not liking the newer stuff that was out at the time.

"I remember around 1988 I really just listened to old records like Rush and early Queen and the Police. I was discovering Pink Floyd. The pop on the radio was really just the soundtrack to making out with your girlfriend, like Whitesnake and all that shit.

6. 'Young Man Blues'

Original artist: Mose Allison

Times played: 83

First played: July 9, 2008 at Key Arena in Seattle, Wash.

Last played: Oct. 28, 2021 at House of Blues in Cleveland, Ohio

The 1957 blues song gained popularity after it was covered by The Who starting in 1968. The band later included a recording of the cover on their 1970 live album, Live at Leeds.

The Foo Fighters started regularly covering the song in 2008. Eventually, Grohl would cross paths with Roger Daltrey of The Who during the NME Awards in 2011, where he asked him to perform it with the Foo Fighters that night.

"That's what rock' n' roll used to be like, when people used to just get up and make it up on the spot," Daltrey said about joining the Foo Fighters for the night.

5. 'Breakdown'

Original artist: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Times played: 96

First played: May 21, 2011 at Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama

Last played: Feb. 26, 2022 at Innings Festival in Tempe, Arizona

One of the best footnotes to the Foo Fighters covering "Breakdown" is knowing Dave Grohl could have been a member of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. At least he was for one night, anyway.

Petty was about to play Saturday Night Live in 1994 when drummer Stan Lynch decided to leave The Heartbreakers. Grohl said Petty reached out to his management to join the band for the SNL performance, which he immediately accepted.

"It was the first time I had really looked forward to playing the drums since Nirvana ended," Grohl said in the 2017 Runnin' Down a Dream documentary. He went on to say he was later approached by Petty to join the band permanently, but ended up turning him down.

4. 'Winnebago'

Original artist: Late!

Times played: 134

First played: Feb. 19, 1995 at West Marine in Seattle, Wash.

Last played: May 8, 2026 at Welcome to Rockville in Daytona Beach, Florida

This one is on the list due to a technicality. Between recording sessions for Nirvana's Nevermind in the early '90s, Dave Grohl headed into the studio to work on a solo project under the name Late! The project's only music was a cassette-only album, Pocketwatch, released in 1992.

The project would provide Grohl with the framework for the first Foo Fighters album. He is essentially a one-man band on Pocketwatch, performing all of the music parts and singing as he did on the Foo Fighters' 1995 self-titled debut.

The Late! song "Winnebago" would later be included as a bonus track on the first Foo Fighters album.

3. 'Marigold'

Original artist: Late!/Nirvana

Times played: 137

First played: Oct. 26, 1997 at Memorial Hall in Kansas City, Kan.

Last played: Aug. 6, 2026 at Ford Field in Detroit, Mich.

Side B on the Pocketwatch cassette kicked off with "Color Pictures of a Marigold," but that was far from the song's final shape.

Grohl later re-recorded the song with Nirvana bass player Krist Novoselic. The new version, now simply called "Marigold," was released as a B-side for the "Heart-Shaped Box" single. It can also be found on the 20th anniversary edition of In Utero released in 2013.

2. 'Gas Chamber'

Original artist: Angry Samoans

Times played: 146

First played: Oct. 18, 1995 at Pakhus in Copenhagen, Denmark

Last played: Oct. 16, 2005 at 9:30 Club in Washington. D.C.

In 1995, Pearl Jam were supposedly given control of a radio station signal to broadcast out of Eddie Vedder's Seattle home as Self-Pollution Radio. Around the same time, Grohl had been handing out demo cassettes of an unnamed solo project he had been working on that would later turn into the Foo Fighters.

One of those tapes got into the hands of Vedder, who Grohl told the BBC in 2021 was the first to play Foo Fighters material to a wider audience.

According to the interview, Vedder played "Exhausted," the final track on the first Foo Fighters album, and Grohl's cover of the Angry Samoans' hardcore song "Gas Chamber."

1. 'Under Pressure'

Original artist: Queen and David Bowie

Times played: 177

First played: June 20, 2014 at Firefly Music Festival in Dover, Del.

Last played: Aug. 17, 2021 at Dena'ina Convention Center in Anchorage, Alaska

The Foo Fighters' most-played cover likely won't be performed by the band during future shows. "Under Pressure" was Hawkins' moment in the spotlight as he stepped out from behind the drums to sing at the front of the stage.

The cover has not been played at a Foo Fighters show since Aug. 17, 2021. Hawkins died March 22, 2022 at the age of 50.

The Foo Fighters' North American tour continues throughout the rest of August and September. A full list of dates and ticket information is available on their official website.