Dave Grohl has revealed that he burst into tears after performing “Highway to Hell” with AC/DC. The Foo Fighters singer recalled the October 2 concert at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium, explaining that the appearance fulfilled a dream reaching back to age 11. He had discovered the Australian band through “Let There Be Rock”, a concert film that helped shape his idea of rock performance.
Dave Grohl made it through “Highway to Hell” on stage with AC/DC. The tears came afterwards. Leaving the MetLife Stadium stage on October 2, the Foo Fighters frontman suddenly took in what had happened: he had just performed with a group he had admired since childhood. The experience brought together the professional musician and the boy who first watched those players on a cinema screen.
Dave Grohl described the moment in an interview with New Zealand radio station The Rock, made public in early November. His wife had been standing at the side of the stage during the performance. Once he came off, he said, he broke down and could not quite believe the experience. He remembered it as an encounter that completed a circle in his life.
The concert was the final date of AC/DC’s “Power Up” tour, which had begun in Germany in May 2024. Its New Jersey conclusion came more than two years after that opening. For Grohl, the invitation placed a long-held personal ambition inside the closing night of another band’s substantial touring chapter.
Foo Fighters had initially been announced to open just one AC/DC concert, on September 8 in St Louis, replacing The Pretty Reckless. That arrangement later expanded when AC/DC invited them to appear at the final MetLife Stadium show as well. The second booking gave the two bands another evening together.
The MetLife performance had moved from September 25 to October 2 because of bad weather. When it finally took place, Dave Grohl received an additional opportunity beyond the Foo Fighters set. During AC/DC’s own show, Brian Johnson told the audience that Grohl had asked to play “Highway to Hell” with them and called him up.
He contributed guitar and vocals to the 1979 song. The stage he stepped onto was striking for another reason: its volume. In the interview, Grohl described it as the loudest stage he had ever experienced, with AC/DC sounding more deafening than any group he could remember. It was an assessment drawn from a career that includes both Nirvana and Foo Fighters.
His relationship with AC/DC’s music began when he was still a child, around age 11, after watching the concert film “Let There Be Rock”. Until then, he explained, his understanding of rock had developed largely through groups such as the Beatles and KISS. Seeing AC/DC perform showed him another kind of physical commitment to playing.
Dave Grohl remembered the energy and the sight of musicians who seemed to push themselves to exhaustion. The film changed what he thought rock performance could demand. He recalled being amazed by the sweat and intensity, and joking about somebody needing an oxygen cylinder. For Dave Grohl, the response as an 11-year-old watching the film was immediate: that was the kind of performer he wanted to become.
More than four decades later, he found himself playing a familiar song with the musicians whose work had helped inspire that decision. The setting had changed from watching a concert film to standing within the performance. That history explains why leaving the stage produced such a strong reaction after the practical business of playing was over.
The October appearance was not the first musical meeting between the two sides. In 2021, Foo Fighters invited Brian Johnson to sing “Back in Black” with them at VAX LIVE, the charity concert supporting access to COVID-19 vaccines. On that occasion, Johnson entered their performance; at MetLife, Grohl joined AC/DC’s programme.
Dave Grohl had also spoken publicly about his admiration well before the recent show. In 2021, he recalled meeting AC/DC members through Paul McCartney. In 2017, after Malcolm Young’s death, he thanked the guitarist publicly for the songs and the years spent listening to them. Those earlier remarks place the October invitation within an established connection to the band’s music.
Foo Fighters have had a full year of their own in 2026, releasing twelfth album “Your Favorite Toy” and undertaking the “Take Cover” tour. Their schedule included North American concerts, appearances with Queens of the Stone Age and two nights at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium. The AC/DC bookings sat alongside that activity.
At the end of the New Jersey show, Brian Johnson left open the possibility of seeing the audience again. AC/DC had not announced their next concert plans. His farewell therefore offered a wish for another meeting rather than a confirmed tour schedule beyond the final date of “Power Up”.
For Dave Grohl, the evening already had a permanent place in memory. The 11-year-old watching “Let There Be Rock” and the musician beside Johnson at MetLife belonged to the same story. He recalled coming offstage, sobbing and struggling to believe what he had just experienced. It felt to him like one of those moments when a life comes full circle, and he said it was something he would never forget.
