Mystery of Foo Fighters 'The Churn Ups' Glastonbury name solved

If you were shocked to see Foo Fighters turn up at Glastonbury this weekend as the secretly billed act ‘The Churn Ups’, perhaps you might want to learn a bit about where that name might have come from.

You see, there was a lot of speculation about who would be taking the 6:15pm set on the famous Pyramid Stage at Worthy Farm, with some suggesting that it might be Jarvis Cocker and 1990s legends Pulp.

Pulp - Churn Up?

Get it?

Anyway, it wasn’t them - in the end it was Dave Grohl and co, returning to Glasto for the first time since 2017 to give the fans an early festival highlight.

Instagram/@foofighters

But - I hear you ask - why were they billed as The Churn Ups?

Well, there’s a couple of things to notice here.

First off, Grohl used to play in a band called Churn, so we have to consider that.

Perhaps more indicative of why they chose this name is a statement that the band released recently before heading out on tour.

You see, this is the first tour that the Foos have embarked upon since the sad death of their drummer Taylor Hawkins.

Hawkins died in March 2022 at the age of 50, and it’s clearly something that deeply affected the rest of the band, as well as many within the rock music world and beyond.

In Hawkins’ place for this tour, and further tours, is Josh Freese, who has welcomed into the band by members and fans alike, to date.

In the lead-up to hitting the road for the first time without him, Grohl wrote a little note to the fans, in which he said that he ‘felt compelled to reach out and thank you all for being there for us’.

“Every night when I see you singing, it makes me sing harder. When I see you screaming, it makes me scream harder. When I see your tears, it brings me to tears. And when I see your joy, it brings me joy,” the frontman continued.

BBC

Here’s the key point.

That statement concluded: “I see you… and it feels so good to see you, churning up these emotions together.

“Because we’ve always done this together.

“Time and time again.”

Now if that heartwarming statement - and the meaning behind the Foo Fighters surprise performance at Glastonbury - didn’t churn up a few emotions within you, you probably don’t have the capacity for empathy.

They might have written the song ‘My Hero’, but really Dave Grohl is everyone’s hero, isn’t he?