Session Information
NPR Tiny Desk concerts began way back in 2008 after NPR staff members had become frustrated they weren't able to hear a singer at South By Southwest over the noise of the large crowd, with one joking that they should just invite her to perform at his desk in NPR HQ instead. That joke soon became reality and over 1,000 Tiny Desk concerts later, Foo Fighters made their appearance on the show whilst promoting their twelfth studio album, 'Your Favorite Toy'.
The band recorded their set on April 27th, 2026 and it was first made available online on May 13th, 2026. No members of the public attended the session, with just a few NPR employees gathered around the desk.
As with many Tiny Desk events the set was a cross between a full-on arena rock show at a desk and an intimate acoustic performance. The band started their set was a raucous performance of 'Spit Shine', a track from their latest album. Whilst Ilan was playing a simpler four piece drum kit and using "Hot Rod" sticks, the rest of the band were fully electric and Dave also elected to sing the vocals through a bullhorn/megaphone, attempting to match the distortion of the studio version.
With the small crowd warmed up the band did elect to soften things up for the rest of the set, using a mixture of hollow bodied acoustic guitars and electric with the volume knob turned down a little from the usual 11.
The band kicked into the classic 'Learn To Fly' which was followed up by another track from their latest album, 'Child Actor', Dave noting that a recent performance of the song saw him accidentally ingesting his own hair. The set was concluded with another pair of big hits in 'My Hero' and 'Everlong'.
It isn't known if any other tracks were recorded during the session, or if more than one take was required for any songs.
