Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl fulfilled a family connection for a fan, without even knowing it, when he posed for a picture in Dublin on Monday.
rohl went for dinner in the Ballsbridge institution Roly’s Bistro yesterday evening, and on his way out he stopped for photos with some staff members and customers.
Among them was Sligo native Carmel Breheny who was having dinner with a friend and afterwards bumped into the rock legend.
Ms Breheny’s late brother Joe worked as lights designer and his last job was with the Foo Fighters.
Joe, or ‘Joe Lights’ as he was known, was diagnosed with cancer and missed out on the European leg of the band’s tour as he was receiving chemotherapy. He died from the illness in 2009, when he was aged 42.
“He was gutted to be missing it because he loved working with them. My brother toured with an awful lot of bands, and he always said that the Foo Fighters were one of the nicest to be on tour with,” Carmel said.
“When my brother was buried, his remains we repatriated to Sligo as was his wish, and at the graveside the last song we played was a Foo Fighters song.
“So, last night was very much a right time, right place for me as a fan but Dave Grohl will never know how much it meant to me… It just feels like things come full circle when that happens.”
Grohl celebrated his 54th birthday on Saturday, but why is in Dublin at the moment remains a mystery.
The singer has previously spoken about how he escaped to Ireland following the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain. Speaking on the Graham Norton Show in 2021, Grohl recalled how he picked up a hitchhiker, in Kerry, who was wearing a Cobain T-shirt.
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He saw the encounter as a sign that he had to “stop running” and returned home to form the Foo Fighters.
The band last toured here in 2019 and they have no upcoming Irish gigs scheduled at present.
Ms Breheny said the staff in Roly’s Bistro were “very discreet” but a few of them asked for a quick picture also, including one who had the Foo Fighters as his screensaver.
She said Grohl was “consistently nice” to everyone he met and “made it so easy”.
“Oh my God he was so nice, couldn’t have been nicer. He was so charming and so patient for a man who literally being abducted by people like myself,” she said.
“I was very excited to meet him because I’ve been a fan since the Nirvana days, and he just seems like a really nice human being. You just get that feeling about him, he was a guy who was quietly going about his business but happy to let fans get their photos.”
This sentiment was echoed by Roly’s part-owner Paul Cartwright who said Grohl was “very friendly, very amenable and a lovely fella”.
Ms Breheny described herself as a music “anorak”, who likes “every kind of music” but whenever she hears the Foo Fighters on the radio her “ears pick up” because of Joe’s connection with the group.
“They say don’t meet your heroes, but I’m glad to say that this was a very nice experience – brief and lovely,” she added.
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