Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl has paid tribute to Beaconsfield miner Todd Russell at the band’s Sydney concert. The tribute followed Russell’s death this week at the age of 54.
Russell died days after leaving hospital to be with family. He became internationally known 20 years ago as a survivor of the Beaconsfield gold mine collapse, alongside his colleague Brant Webb.
On stage last night, Dave Grohl told the Sydney crowd about the connection between the miners and his band. He explained that during the mine collapse, someone from their record company called him about the incident in Tasmania. Grohl was told that the trapped men had asked for water and an iPod with Foo Fighters music.
Grohl recalled asking the record company to “send them a note [saying] ‘hey, hope you guys are hanging in there, and when you get out, there are tickets to see the Foo Fighters play and let’s have some beers’”.
Not long after the 2006 rescue, Grohl said he knew Brant Webb was attending an Opera House show. He wrote the instrumental track “The Ballad Of The Beaconsfield Miners” in his hotel before that performance.
Grohl explained that after the show, “we all went to the bar and we had the beers I promised; I got so drunk, I promised that I’d put this song on the next record.” The song was included on the band’s 2007 album, Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace.
Before performing the song solo on acoustic guitar, Grohl told the audience, “I met a few heroes in my life, but that was a big one. I’m doing this for him tonight, Todd Russell.”
Russell had announced on social media last week that he was leaving hospital care to spend his final days at home. He has been remembered for his decades of service to the Beaconsfield community as a firefighter.