Dave Grohl honoured Beaconsfield mine survivor Todd Russell at Foo Fighters’ Sydney show on Tuesday, November 10th, playing the instrumental he wrote after the miners’ rescue 20 years ago.
As Jade Kennedy reports for Tone Deaf, Grohl stepped onto Accor Stadium’s secondary stage alone to perform ‘Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners’, following news of Russell’s passing earlier that day.
Russell was 54. ABC News reported that he had returned home after eight and a half months in hospital to spend his final days with family. His illness has not been disclosed.
Before playing, Grohl recalled how a request for music from Russell and fellow survivor Brant Webb had reached him while the men were still trapped beneath Tasmania’s Beaconsfield Gold Mine.
“I’m doing this for him tonight, Todd Russell,” he told the crowd, via the ABC’s coverage of the performance.
Watch Dave Grohl’s Sydney Tribute
Russell and Webb were trapped by a rockfall on Anzac Day in 2006, with their colleague Larry Knight killed in the collapse. Rescuers found the pair alive five days later, and they finally emerged on May 9th after a fortnight underground.
While waiting to be rescued, Webb requested an iPod loaded with Foo Fighters songs. When Grohl heard, he offered the miners concert tickets and promised to buy them beers once they were free.
The acoustic piece came later that year. On Tuesday, Grohl explained that he had written it in his hotel before the band’s 2006 Sydney Opera House performance, knowing Webb would attend. He also recalled keeping his promise of beers after the show and agreeing to put the song on the next record. It appeared on Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace in 2007.
Australian fans had heard the song earlier this year, too. Britt Aylen’s Rolling Stone AU/NZ review documented Webb introducing the band’s encore at Launceston’s UTAS Stadium in January, where Grohl performed it before approximately 26,000 people.
Foo Fighters’ Take Cover Tour continues at Newcastle’s McDonald Jones Stadium tomorrow, November 12th, with The Buoys and C.O.F.F.I.N. Details are available through Frontier Touring.
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