Foo Fighters kicked off their first show of the year in Mexico last week, and the set was rife with fan favourites, and also saw Dave Grohl pay tribute to an absent Pat Smear.
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The gig took place at the Velaria de la Feria in León on Saturday night (January 10), and marked the opening night of the band’s ‘Take Cover’ 2026 tour dates.
Aside from it being their first show in the city, it also saw them take to the stage without guitarist Smear, who announced recently that he would be sitting out of some upcoming gigs having broken his foot. Standing in for him is guitarist Jason Falkner.
To kick off the 18-song set, Foos began with ‘All My Life’ and ‘Times Like These’ from their 2002 album ‘One By One’, before going into a rendition of their biggest hit ‘The Pretender’.
Fan favourite hits filled up the vast majority of the setlist that night, with performances of ‘Best Of You’, ‘Monkey Wrench’, ‘Learn To Fly’, ‘Everlong’, ‘My Hero’ and more coming in thick and fast.
There were also a couple of lesser-known tracks that made the cut, including ‘La Dee Da’, ‘Run’, ‘Aurora’, and ‘Exhausted’. The latter was dropped as a debut promotional single around six months before they dropped breakthrough track ‘This Is A Call’ in 1995 (via Loudwire).
After playing ‘These Days’, the audience also collectively sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to Grohl – who is turning 57 on January 14 – and ahead of ‘My Hero’ being played, the frontman gave a shoutout to Smear.
“I don’t know if you’ve heard, but our guitar player – Pat Smear – broke his fucking leg, right? Been there, done that,” Grohl said. “He broke his leg, [so] tonight we couldn’t have Pat here… so we called our dear friend Jason Falkner to come and replace Pat so that we could come play with you tonight.”
“I’ve known Jason for decades. Long time,” the singer added. “Amazing player. He’s played with Beck and St. Vincent. He’s played with everybody, and so he really saved us and rescued us tonight so we could come play for you.”
According to Setlist.fm, the band did not play any songs from their latest studio album, 2023’s ‘But Here We Are’.
Check out the full setlist below, along with more footage from the night and some fan reactions.
Foo Fighters tocando “My Hero” en la Feria de León. pic.twitter.com/yEZ5sPC6t5
— K (@TransportesK) January 11, 2026
Maravilloso concierto de foo fighters en la feria de leon pic.twitter.com/FyQhVKiSm9
— River (@river83) January 12, 2026
Foo Fighters’ back onstage in Leon, Mexico, 2026! Fans sing Happy Birthday in advance to Dave Grohl (He got scared), Jason Faulkner steps in for Pat Smear. pic.twitter.com/P78t6VzfM5
— Rock Photography (@Photomusicrock) January 11, 2026
En estos momentos… Foo Fighters hace historia en León cimbrando con rock hasta los cimientos el Foro de la Gente Mazda en la Feria de León 2026
Fotos: @arlkraken pic.twitter.com/aXhQKuzw02
— Nine Fiction (@ninefiction) January 11, 2026
Sólo de pensar que en León Guanajuato no querían a los “Foo Fighters” para la Feria de #León… pic.twitter.com/FuqmzSVGz9
— Doc Cuanalo (@TheDocCuanalo) January 12, 2026
Parecía que no se iba a llenar, pero finalmente fue un éxito la presentación de Foo Fighters en la Feria de León. Las ferias ahora rivalizan con los festivales y son una buena manera de llevar este tipo de shows a lugares a donde los grandes festivales no llegan. pic.twitter.com/wPUCWT4JDg
— Rock360Mx (@Rock360Mx) January 11, 2026
Foo Fighters’ setlist was:
1. ‘All My Life’
2. ‘Times Like These’
3. ‘The Pretender’
4. ‘La Dee Da’
5. ‘These days’
6. ‘My Hero’
7. ‘Learn to Fly’
8. ‘Run’
9. ‘This Is a Call’
10. ‘No Son of Mine’
11. ‘Aurora’
12. ‘White Limo’
13. ‘Arlandria’
14. ‘Monkey Wrench’
15. ‘Hey, Johnny Park!’
16. ‘Best of You’
17. ‘Exhausted’
18. ‘Everlong’
Smear announced that he would be sitting out of the gigs just last week, and confirmed that he broke his foot due to a “bizarre gardening accident”.
As well as the opening night in Mexico, Smear will be missing Foo Fighters’ benefit show for homeless charities Hope the Mission and the Los Angeles Mission in Los Angeles on January 14. He also has to sit out shows in Australia that will take place later this month.
The band will make their return to the UK and Europe this summer as well, and the dates include two shows at Liverpool FC’s Anfield Stadium on June 25 and 27. There are also festival slots at Mad Cool, Pinkpop and more lined-up.
Support across various dates will include Royel Otis, Inhaler, IDLES, Otoboke Beaver, Fat Dog and Die Spitz. Find dates below and buy your tickets here.
Foo Fighters UK and European ‘Take Cover’ tour dates are:
June
10 – Oslo, Norway Unity Arena *#
12 – Stockholm, Sweden Strawberry Arena *#
15 – Warsaw, Poland PGE Narodowy *#
17 – Munich, Germany Allianz Arena ^#
19 – Paris, France Paris La Défense Arena ^#
25 – Liverpool, UK Anfield Stadium ^#
27 – Liverpool, UK Anfield Stadium *%
July
1 – Berlin, Germany Olympiastadion +”
3 – Vienna, Austria Ernst-Happel-Stadium +”
5 – Milan, Italy I-Days +”
8 – Madrid, Spain Mad Cool Festival
10 -Oeiras, Portugal NOS Alive Festival
* Royel Otis supports
^ Inhaler supports
+ IDLES supports
# Otoboke Beaver supports
% Die Spitz supports
“ Fat Dog supports
As well as shows in the UK, Europe, and Australia soon, Foo Fighters have also confirmed a 2026 North American stadium tour.
The new gigs come following the band saying that they were “about to take flight” into their next era, and releasing both the stand alone single ‘Today’s Song’, and the later single, ‘Asking For A Friend’
The post Here’s what Foo Fighters played at their first show of 2026, while paying tribute to absent Pat Smear appeared first on NME.
