Artwork for the release
September 2025 saw Foo Fighters return to the live stage for the first time in an entire year with four surprise shows across the United States, the shows also serving as their first with new drummer Ilan Rubin. The shows were well receieved with lots of older tracks and rarities being played live and whilst there was the usual amount of recordings made by fans available online many attendees at the show had noticed an unusually large array of microphones at the front of the stage pointed towards the crowd, speculating that they may have been specially recorded for future release.
It turned out their speculation was spot on as today (October 3) Foo Fighters have surprise released a digital EP titled 'Are Playing Where??? Vol. 1' featuring a selection of tracks from the September shows.
The EP dropped exclusively on digital platform Bandcamp.com with fans able to name their own price for the release and proceeds from sales going towards local charities in the cities that the band performed. As of now it is not available officially anywhere else, but that may change in the future. The downloads are provided in both MP3 format as well as high-resolution 24-bit/48khz FLAC.
Six live performances are featured and whilst officially the digital liner notes do not disclose specifically where each was recorded, opting to instead subtitle each as "Live from Somewhere 2025", by comparing with fan recordings we have been able to deduce where each was recorded.
Foo Fighters - Are Playing Where??? Vol I Tracklisting
- Alone + Easy Target (Live from Black Cat, Washington, D.C.)
- Exhausted (Live from Black Cat, Washington, D.C.)
- Wattershed (Live from Fremont Theater, San Luis Obispo, CA)
- Weenie Beenie (Live from Black Cat, Washington, D.C.)
- White Limo (Live from Toad's Space, New Haven, CT)
- Winnebago (Live from Black Cat, Washington, D.C.)
That means despite the liner notes suggesting tracks from all four shows were featured, there are actually none from the second show in Santa Ana with the majority coming from the DC show.
Curiously the six tracks are presented in alphabetical order, rather than following any rough running order of the combined setlists.
The artwork for the release features a combination of the key artwork figures from the poster of each show but of course the most interesting point about the cover art is that name of the EP itself - Vol. I, which rather suggests further volumes may follow. Will they feature more tracks from these four shows, or perhaps more smaller shows are on the way soon?
We can only speculate, but in the meantime get yourself to bandcamp.com and download this excellent sounding live EP!