The winners didn't know the location until the van came to pick them up. Even 93X's longtime program director Wade Linder -- who will have a lot less friends once they find out he didn't hook them up -- swears he also was kept out of the loop. All they knew was that it would happen the day before the band's Xcel Energy Center concert, which indeed it did.
The Foo Fighters came through Tuesday afternoon with a promotional "garage show" in White Bear Lake that was originally scheduled back in April, when their new album came out. They literally performed in fans' garages in cities across the country then, but the Twin Cities gig got postponed. When you hear the location that was selected, it's hard not to be a little suspicious the thing wasn't delayed on purpose: It took place at the Pine Tree Apple Orchard, right at the start of apple season on a crisp, sunny September day.
"It was an absolutely great day," confirmed Patrick Cool, one of the winners from 93X among the roughly 75 or so attendees, including the family on the orchard who won the grand prize.
Cool said he was picked up by a van mid-day Tuesday to head to the show. The music started a little after 4 p.m. and lasted nearly 90 minutes, according to Cool, a 25-year-old chemist from Edina (so you know he didn't make up that cool name). As you can see in the photo below, the band still performed in a garage -- but it was a big, three-car structure on the orchard property far from any possibly annoyed neighbors. The set list picked heavily from the new album, including "Rope" and "Walk," but then also featured old favorites such as "Monkey Wrench," "Everlong" and "All My Life." They also picked out a couple lesser-known songs that they said they were trying out for the fall tour that starts Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center.
"It was such an intimate performance; I was just entranced the whole time," gushed Cool, who sounded even more impressed of what happened afterward. Like when Foo frontman Dave Grohl "photo-bombed" some lucky girls posing for a friend (jumping in the background behind them with his middle finger raised). Said Cool, "The guys in the band just hung around and talked to everyone, and signed anything handed to them. They were so cool and casual, in no way putting themselves above everybody else."
Sure. So says one of the people on the inside of this obviously unforgettable gig.
