AJ Maddah Deflates Foo Fighters’ Adelaide Chest-Puff

Soundwave boss AJ Maddah has taken a swipe at Dave Grohl after the Foo Fighters frontman called out “promoters who think Adelaide doesn’t have a…rock scene”.

There’s been a lot of talk about the viability of Adelaide as a musical hub recently, particularly in regards to ticket sales, with Maddah recently stating that “nothing is working in Adelaide at the moment”, and even the likes of Billy Corgan have been chiming in.

As Adelaide Now reports, Grohl had his say during Foo Fighters’ 25,000-strong gig at Adelaide’s Coopers Stadium last night.

After insisting the house lights be turned up, Grohl said, “Looks pretty fucking good to me.” He continued, “This is for all those promoters who think Adelaide doesn’t have a fucking rock scene,” before launching into Foo Fighters hit Times Like These.

After being alerted of the turn-out to the Adelaide gig on Twitter, Maddah replied, “There’s always good numbers in safe radio rock and the middle of the road.”

The promoter also claimed that Frontier Touring, Foo Fighters’ Australian tour promoter, had given “away a lot of tickets, sold some at $50 to fill venue & get Dave his bragging rights!”

Foo Fighters’ show in Adelaide last night was the first time a band has played a gig in Coopers Stadium since The Eagles performed there in 1995.

Soundwave’s future in Adelaide is still uncertain after severely low numbers attended the two-day festival this year. “Next year we just can’t take the risk. In 2012 we had 37,000, in 2013 we had 45,000, last year we had 20,000 and this year we’ve got around 12,000,” Maddah said.

UPDATE 06/03/15: Foo Fighters’ Australian tour promoter Frontier Touring have issued a response to AJ Maddah’s comments.

Gallery: Foo Fighters @ ANZ Stadium, Sydney 26/02/15 / Photos by Paul Cush

@Mikey_Nicholson @ripitupAU No doubt. You still turned up in force for Rolling Stones & Katie Perry too.

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) March 4, 2015

@simonielasi @ripitupAU @Billy There's always good numbers in safe radio rock and the middle of the road.

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) March 4, 2015

@Mikey_Nicholson @ripitupAU mind you, promoter gave away a lot of tickets, sold some at $50 to fill venue & get Dave his bragging rights!

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) March 4, 2015

@Mikey_Nicholson @ripitupAU No. You are awesome. We are a lost cause.

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) March 4, 2015

@Mikey_Nicholson @ripitupAU mind you, promoter gave away a lot of tickets, sold some at $50 to fill venue & get Dave his bragging rights!

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) March 4, 2015