Dave Grohl with Nick Perry of Georgetown, Ont., in Perry's barn
The fan-boy farmer thought his leg was being pulled. On the first day of this month, friends were telling him he'd won a Foo Fighters contest. Turns out it was no joke. It really was April Fool's Day.
A week after his favourite band gave a secret performance inside his garage, Nick Perry of Georgetown, Ont., still can't get over it. "It was the biggest moment of my life," says Perry, one of eight North Americans to have Foo Fighters play an intimate shed show in their backyards. "It was a dream come true."
Foo Fighters' new album, Wasting Light, was recorded in front man Dave Grohl's garage. As part of the LP's promotional blitz, BlackBerry sponsored a contest in which winners would host a personal garage/barn show.
For Perry, though, the no-frills concert on his family farm was just the start. A guitar player with a fanatical knowledge of the band's work, Perry was able not only to host and watch with 50 of his friends and relations, but participate as well. "I was giving it everything I had," he said. "I looked at my hands the next day and they were all shredded from hitting my guitar strings."
Perry joined in with Grohl and the Foos for four songs, Big Me, Everlong, All My Life and, appropriately, My Hero, a towering ode to average-Joe altruism with the refrain "There goes my hero, watch him as he goes/There goes my hero, he's ordinary."
Says Perry, an aspiring musician who admires the Foos' fan-friendly bent: "They know how to do it. I get all my hints, all my tips and all my cues from them."
Brad Wheeler