ICYMI: 11-Year-Old Drummer Nandi Bushell Joins Foo Fighters At The Forum 

Sometimes dreams really do come true. Wunderkind drumming sensation Nandi Bushell, age 11, has already gotten to perform with Lenny Kravitz at The O2 Arena, meet Questlove and appear on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” but as she explained in a post on Twitter Aug. 17, 2020, her dream was “to one day jam with Dave Grohl, @taylorhawkins and all the @foofighters.” 

The post included Bushell’s take on the Foo Fighters’ 1997 hit “Everlong. She added, “Mr Grohl I would love to have a drum battle with you! I LOVE Everlong it’s really hard to play as it’s so fast but so much FUN! #foofighters.”

A little more than a year later – after Bushell and Grohl delighted the world by trading drum battle videos back and forth during the pandemic – the Foo Fighters invited the mini musician to take the stage at The Forum for the conclusion of the band’s show at the Inglewood, Calif., venue Aug. 26. 

The crew brought out a pink drum kit and Grohl explained the tale of their epic rivalry: “One day I pick up my phone and my friends were all texting me like “Have you seen this ship?” I click on the link and look at it and see that someone is challenging me to a drum off. So I’m like “Well, isn’t that nice.” I kind of brush it off. I’m like “Oh, that’s kinda funny.” All my friends start telling me, no dude, you gotta step up. This is the real deal. This is a drum challenge. This is a drum off.

“So I respond. I’m like alright, I’ll play nice. I’ll put on a little thing. And then she comes back. And she whoops my fucking ass in front of the entire planet. I’m like, okay, round three! So, I do something else and she comes back and she kicks my fucking ass again. 

“Tonight was the first night that we met and I came face to face with my arch nemesis. But of course, this person inspired me last year so much, and I’ll tell you why. Because in a time when you would pick up your phone or turn on a computer and all you had was bad news, for that one day, you could pick up your phone and see this connection between two people that have never met making music together and spreading joy and love all across the world. So ladies and gentlemen will you please welcome the most badass drummer in the world, my new friend Nandi.” 

Grohl led Nandi to the front of the stage where she waved her drumsticks in the air in glee, causing the audience to cheer, “Nandi, Nandi!”

Grohl added, “Let me tell you, we’ve gotten the chance to jam with some pretty amazing people over the years, maybe some Beatles, maybe some Stones, maybe some Pink Floyds, but this one right here takes the cake – we get to jam with Nandi.”    

Check out the video below from YouTuber csilver522 (via mashable.com).