Odds & Ends: Foo Fighters, Bob Weir/Mickey Hart/The Gaslight Anthem

Dave Grohl busted out some Italian today to thank a group of 1,000 fans in Italy for organizing an incredible performance of Foo Fighters’ “Learn To Fly.” In a video posted on Facebook Friday the frontman says their wish will be granted and Foo Fighters are headed to Cessena, Italy, soon.

A group calling itself “Rockin’1000” posted a video online Thursday of hundreds of singers, guitarists, bassists and drummers rocking out in a field in Cesena, Italy, to the 1999 single.

Following the performance, organizer Fabio Zaffagnini looked into the camera and addressed the Foo Fighters.

“Italy is a country where dreams cannot easily come true, but it’s a land of passion and creativity. So what we did in here is just a huge, huge miracle. I’ve been working on this fucking project for more than one year, waking up every morning, thinking about how to make it real. … One thousand rockers that came from all over the nation at their own expenses, and they just did it for one song: your song. So our call is to ask you, The Foo Fighters to come and play for us. Come and play here, give a concert to all of us in Cesena.”

After the Foo Fighters posted the “Rockin’1000” video on its Facebook page Thursday with the caption “Ci vediamo a presto, Cesena … xxx Davide,” (which translates to “See you soon, Cesena … xxx David,”) the band confirmed its commitment to visiting the northern Italian city by posting a video of Grohl speaking Italian.

Grohl, who notes that he only speaks a little Italian, called the video very beautiful and promised that the band would visit soon. He ended the clip by telling fans thank you and that he loves them.

A date hasn’t been announced for the Cesena show but the band is already headed to Italy for a few nights in November.

Lockn’ Festival had already announced separate performances from Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann, but now the whole Grateful Dead gang will be there.

Bob Weir appears Sept. 12 as the fest’s featured guest of the day. This week’s news blast says the singer/songwriter/guitarist will take the stage in “unique artist collaborations.”

Mickey Hart will also perform multiple times. In addition to playing the main stage Sept. 10 with EOTO, the percussionist will curate a “deep rhythm experience” during two consecutive late night sets Sept. 11-12.

Lockn’ takes place Sept. 10-13 at Oak Ridge Farm in Arrington, Va. The previously announced lineup includes Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters, Widespread Panic, The String Cheese Incident and The Doobie Brothers, Gov’t Mule and Tedeschi Trucks Band.

Kreutzmann appears Sept. 10 as Billy & The Kids featuring Aaron Magner, Reed Mathis, Tom Hamilton and Jason Hann, along with special guests Dominic Lalli and John Popper. Kreutmann will be back Sept. 11 to take part in a 50 year celebration of Jefferson Airplane that includes Rachael Price, GE Smith, Larry Campbell, Teresa Williams, Jeff Pehrson and Justin Guip.

Lesh will be joined by Chris Robinson, Neal Casal, Adam MacDougall, Eric Krasno and Tony Leone for a Phil Lesh & Friends set Sept. 11. The next evening Lesh teams up with Carlos Santana for a set that also boasts Warren Haynes, Barry Sless and Rob Barraco. Visit LocknFestival.com for more information.

Once The Gaslight Anthem wraps up its summer tour schedule you won’t be hearing from the band for a while. The punk rock/alternative group announced this week that while individual members will still be doing their own projects, The Gaslight Anthem is going on hiatus “until we decide what we’d like to do next.”   

After playing Gathering Of The Vibes in Bridgeport, Conn., Saturday, the band heads to Europe for a run of festival appearances. The last stop on the routing is Aug. 30 at England’s Reading Festival.

Here’s the band’s statement:

“Hello all! We wanted to let everyone know that we’ll all be taking a break from The Gaslight Anthem after this next European tour in August. We’re all going to do other projects and stay active in some way or another, both in and out of music, but we’d like to step away from the band until we decide what we’d like to do next.

“We’d like to recharge and take a step back until we have something we feel excited about rather than going right back to making a record just for the sake of making the next record. We all feel this is the best decision we can make and it feels like the right one for us.

Thank you to everyone who came out and supported our band for the last eight years and we’ll see you down the road!

“With love and respect,

“Brian, Benny, Alex and Alex.”