Right across the street from Minneapolis's famous First Avenue nightclub, where a younger Dave Grohl played some of his earliest gigs with Nirvana, his band the Foo Fighters took the stage in the arena sized Target Center for one hell of a good show. The Foos had in tow with them young, upstart punk rockers Against Me! and former System of a Down frontman Serj Tankian.

The night started off with Against Me! taking the stage. Clad in matchng black T-shirt and pants (except the drummer, who wore shorts), Against Me! played to a fairly empty Target Center. There were many open seats up in the stands, and the crowd on the floor was not stacked overly deep, but this didn't stop the band from playing a great set. No fancy light show; no outrageos costumes -- just pure punk rock energy drove Against Me! through a fairly short set. It was good to see that the Foo Fighters would want to have a great young band like them support them on tour.

Not long after, Serj Tankian took the stage with his band. The band clad in dark tuxeudos and top hats, and Serj himself in a matching white suit, acting as the sort of ringmaster for what my friend described as a "psychotic circus." Serj himself was fairly entertaining on stage, bowing and tipping his top hat, and dropping to his knees on occasions. His set seemed very reptitive, as none of his songs sound very dissimlar to one another.

When the lights dimmed for the Foos to take the stage, the crowd went absolutely wild. Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shifflet, and Nate Mendel, the orignal Foos, were joined by Rami Jaffee (of the Walflowers) on keyboards , Drew Hestner on extra purcussion, former Foo guitarist Pat Smear, and Minnesota-born viloin player Jesse Green. They wasted no time jumping into the epic "Let it Die" before launching into their immensly popular number, "The Pretender," both songs off their new album, "Echoes, Silence, Patience, and Grace." After these two numbers, the auxilary Foos left, and Dave, Taylor, Chris and Nate blasted through some of their classic songs including "Learn to Fly," "Times Like These," and "Breakout." They played "Cheer up Boys (Your Make-up is Running)," a song destined to become their next sing off of "Echoes," followed by their very first single "This is a Call."

The first half of the concert was all rock, ending on a 12-minute jam on "Stacked Actors" which saw a long drum solo by Taylor Hawkins, a literal guitar battle between Grohl and Shifflet (clashing headstocks and all), and an attempted bass solo by Mendel. After the long, thrashing "Actors," the lights dimmed, and Dave picked up his acoustic guitar and began to play "Skin and Bones," a song popularized during their Afoositc tour. As he made his way off the main stage and down a long runway, a platform with a keyboard, second drumset, and guitar equipment. The band then proceeded to follow Grohl and perform their acoustic numbers. They did an acoustic rendition of "My Hero," Taylor Hawkins sang "Cold Day in the Sun," and even played an old Nirvana B-Side written by Grohl "Marigold."

When the acoustic set was over, the other band members left the stage, and Dave picked up his electric guitar and started into a solo version of "Everlong." When the second chorus came in, the main stage lights suddenly illuminated, and Taylor, Chris, and Nate joined Dave in playing "Everlong" and Dave sprinted back down the ramp and leapt onto the main stage. After "Everlong," the guys thrashed through "Monkeywrench" and "All My Life." During "Monkeywrench," we got to see Dave pay tribute to Angus Young when he did Young's signature kick-hop all the way down the ramp. The band left the stage, but after a little bit of convincing from the crowd, a seemingly reluctant Grohl came out and led his band through "Big Me," "Long Road to Ruin," and a song covered by a "local band" (Prince), "Best of You."

The Foos are really incapable of putting on a bad show, and tonight was no exception. They brought everything they've done in their illustrious career together in one night, rocking through the old songs that Dave wrote and recorded himself, to playing their acoustic numbers that have become a trademark of the band since last year. Against Me! may not have had much flash and bang to their show, but who needs it? They straight-up rocked, even if the crowd was not completely into it. Serj Tankian may have appealed to some concert-goers, but seemed very out of place stacked between a punk rock outfit and the alternative rock gurus. Altogether it was an amazing show. On a scale of 1-10, I'd give it a F@#%ing Awesome.