ABBA’s Benny Andersson covers Foo Fighters’ ‘Learn to Fly’
The Swedish legend acknowledged Dave Grohl's ABBA fandom
By Joe Goggins
Benny Andersson has shared a piano cover of Foo Fighters’ ‘Learn to Fly’, days after Dave Grohl wore an ABBA sweatshirt at Glastonbury.
The Foos frontman joined Paul McCartney onstage on Saturday, during the Beatles legend’s massive Pyramid headline set, to play Wings’ ‘Band on the Run’ and The Beatles’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, before later rejoining McCartney for ‘The End’, alongside fellow special guest Bruce Springsteen. It was his first major public appearance since the sudden death in March of Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins.
Grohl was wearing a black sweatshirt embossed with a gold ABBA logo; he also had a ’T’ in the shape of a hawk drawn onto the back of his right hand, in honour of the late sticksman. Now, Andersson has acknowledged Grohl’s ABBA fandom by sharing on Tuesday (June 28), via the ABBA Voyage Instagram account, a short clip of himself playing ‘Learn to Fly’, from the Foos’ third album, 1999’s ‘There Is Nothing Left to Lose’.
At the end of the video, Andersson reveals that he has returned the favour, opening his shirt to reveal that he’s wearing a Foo Fighters t-shirt. The mutual admiration comes as ABBA Voyage continues in London. The concert series sees four highly-detailed digital avatars, appearing in hologram form, standing in for the elusive Swedes; fans see the four-piece appear as if in their pomp, playing the hits accompanied by an actual live band.
The show was rave-reviewed across the board when it opened last month, not unlike the album that it’s named after, which arrived last November. In a four-star review of the ‘Voyage’ concert series’ opening night, Rolling Stone UK’s Brit Dawson said: “what the producers, and the band themselves, have done with the show is groundbreaking, and will likely transform live music.”
Meanwhile, Grohl will return to the UK in September, with a tribute concert for Hawkins in the diary for September 3 at Wembley Stadium. An all-star cast of special guests has been announced for the show, including Liam Gallagher, Chrissie Hynde, John Paul Jones, Stewart Copeland and Roger Taylor.