National Post (National Edition)
Essex teen gets dream invite from Foo Fighters
WINDSOR, ONT. • Playing guitar in front of 20,000 people and your favourite worldfamous rock band would make most people nervous, but 17-year-old Lucas Gregetz said he felt fine.
“I think the adrenalin kicked in and I just went for it,” says the young Essex, Ont., musician, who joined the Foo Fighters on stage during a packed concert at Ohio’s Blossom Music Center this week.
“Once I had the guitar, I just let loose and I really didn’t care ... Honestly, it felt like a dream. It was surreal. It didn’t feel like I was actually there.”
With frontman Dave Grohl’s signature Gibson in hand, Lucas ripped through a rendition of the band’s 1997 hit song Monkey Wrench — including a spotlight solo and improvised flourishes, at Grohl’s urging.
“In the middle of the song, he kept pointing and saying, ‘Look at all the people!’” Lucas said. “I just went, ‘Oh my God, I know!’”
A combination of luck and preparation led to the fulfilment of Lucas’s dream. His father surprised him with front-row tickets for the show, and he hastily made a sign that begged Grohl: “Please let me jam Monkey Wrench.”
Lucas made a similar sign when he attended a Foo Fighters concert in Toronto earlier this summer, but his request went unnoticed.
The band has a history of pulling audience members onstage. In April, at a concert in Austin, Texas, Foo Fighters invited up a young guitarist in KISS makeup. Yayo Sanchez’s show-stealing performance of Monkey Wrench went viral on YouTube. “I’ve actually been planning this for a few years,” Lucas said.
Lucas started learning guitar around the age of 12. He’s not in a band, although he jams often with his friends.
They’ve practised Monkey Wrench before. The height of the song’s popularity was before Lucas was born, but it’s still one of his favourite Foo Fighters tracks.
“I really like their stuff,” Lucas said. “It’s raw, it’s rock.”
Lucas felt so confident on stage with Grohl’s guitar, he snuck in a riff from the early Rush song Working Man, which he knows the Foo Fighters enjoy.
“I thought, I’ll throw it in there and see if they get a kick out of it, and they did.”
Lucas’s recent rock star turn may have earned him the cheers of thousands and the envy of his friends, but he didn’t get any backstage privileges with the band.
“At the very end, I thanked (Grohl) and I was like, ‘Can I have your guitar?’ And he’s like, ‘Eff off!’ It was hilarious,” Lucas said.