Chris Shiflett is continuing his trend of honoring the late greats of electric guitar on stage with the Foo Fighters. He recently used one of Randy Rhoads’ iconic axes to play a Foo Fighters classic.
The band have just kicked off a US tour with Queens of the Stone Age and Mannequin Pussy in tow. For their show at Chicago’s Soldier Field, Shiftlett linked up with Family Guitars – the renowned collectors, who recently spent mega money on Jerry Garcia’s Wolf guitar before immediately putting it in the hands of Derek Trucks.
Family Guitars love seeing the legendary instruments in their inventory get played, and Shiftlett was all over its collection, taking the Wolf and Mick Bloomfield’s jazz-killing guitar for a spin before the gig.
Yet it was Randy Rhoads’ 1974 Gibson Les Paul, heavily used during his Quiet Riot days, that he took to the stage. He used the history-soaked guitar to play the 1997 banger, My Hero. Video evidence suggests he loved every second of it.
Among the other guitars Shiflett put through his paces that day were Jeff Beck’s 1959 Gibson Les Paul “Yardburst”, which has appeared on stages with Lenny Kravitz and Warren Haynes, and Dickey Betts’ 1958 Gibson “Filmore” Les Paul.
Beyond that, he also played Jerry Garcia’s 1979 Doug Irwin “Tiger”, and Frank Zappa’s 1960s Gibson “Roxy” SG. That’s quite the list of guitars, with a combined value that’s enough to make anybody’s piggy bank sweat.
As one user commented on the Instagram post of his sampling the litany of legendary six-strings: “I’m guessing you left the checkbook at home for safety reasons?” He very likely did.
In related news, Dave Grohl has discussed the lucky guitar he’ll never make a Foo Fighters record without, and Jason Faulkner has reflected on his last gasp tour with the band when he filled in for a bizarrely injured Pat Smear.
