Foo Fighters set to bring the noise back to Providence Park

It's been a while since Elvis left this building.

PORTLAND — There’s going to be some noise complaints. It’s inevitable.

When the Foo Fighters take the stage Friday evening for the first concert at Providence Park in nearly 20 years, it’s going to be loud. With the pitch of the Portland Timbers and Thorns converted into a general admission pit, Timbers officials estimate the park can hold nearly 30,000 attendees — making it the area’s largest concert venue by a wide margin. It’s also outdoors and right in the middle of Portland’s sometimes cozy Northwest neighborhood. 

Yes, the artist formerly known as PGE Park/Civic Stadium/Multnomah Stadium can rile itself up plenty loud following strikes from Evander and Sophia Smith. But I also once saw Dave Grohl and the Foo play a three-hour set after a two-hour opener by Motörhead. These aren’t the type of dudes to try and keep it down — especially while playing the same stadium the likes of Elvis, Bob Dylan and David Bowie have in the past. 

Pop quiz: What has nine arms and played the last concert at Providence Park in 2005? 

Answer: Def Leppard.

Granted, the 9,175 fans who turned out for the first date of the Rock of Ages Tour paled in comparison to the commotion stirred by those who showed up for Bowie in 1987. From Chris Myers of The Oregonian the morning after Ziggy Stardust left the building: 

While about 24,700 people heard the concert from inside the stadium, a few thousand more listened from nearby streets and from rooftops, fire escapes, windows and balconies of neighboring buildings. Countless neighbors, meanwhile, listened involuntarily -- simply because the music from the controversial outdoor concert was too loud to be ignored.

The music was clearly audible on city streets as far as eight blocks away from the stadium, and the Portland Police Bureau reported numerous complaints about the noise. 

For the record, the City of Portland’s noise ordinance will still go into effect at 11 p.m., so don’t start lighting up the dispatch hotline until it’s actually against the rules, ya nerds. And brace yourselves, because this is about to become a regularity. Friday is the first of two concerts held at the venue this season, with Green Day headlining later in September. It’s the realization of a plan the Timbers announced late last year, when the organization introduced its new summer concert series with an eye for attracting headlining shows to the city.

“This is very exciting for us, for our fans and for the city of Portland,” Timbers CEO Heather Davis said in a press release. “We are proud to continue our investment in the vibrancy of downtown Portland as Providence Park becomes the largest concert venue in the Portland area. Artists who had to bypass Portland on their West Coast tours will have a great new option to consider.”

Portland used to get some of the biggest acts in the world. The Beatles played Memorial Coliseum in 1965, and it was in 1957 that Elvis played the first concert at Multnomah Stadium. The King took a train down from Vancouver following a show up in British Columbia, arrived at Union Station to scores of streaming fans and held court with reporters and disk jockeys during a press conference at the Multnomah Athletic Club before appearing on stage shortly after 10 p.m. for a 40-minute show.

From the Portland Journal:

From the time his convertible swept along the track and the gold sleeve waved to the top row of the stadium, his fans became one vocal acclaim of ear-splitting tumult. It was sometimes almost impossible to know which of his rock ’n’ roll hits he was singing, burping and wiggling for his fans. The blare of the music whistled through the right ear and the screaming of the audience pierced the left ear conking out my equilibrium. But my eyesight was perfect, and there’s no doubt that it’s the bumps and grinds, the wiggles and the sinuous writhings that the fans love most. Each wiggle brought forth another in the succession of ecstatic screams.

HOWEVER, the mass eruption from the stands of berserk teen-agers, such as greeted Elvis in Chicago and recently in Vancouver, B.C., did not materialize. Instead, the woozy fans, many of them members of two Presley fan clubs here, were content to stay at their seats, to shake and wiggle hands, hips and feet, and to convince the singer that Portland, like all other U.S. cities, is "real gone."

The Foo Fighters, of course, are not Elvis. But the Grohl-fronted band did sell out Wembley Stadium in London for two nights in a row in 2008, has packed The Gorge and played in front of 50,000-plus people just last week in Denver.

From 303 Magazine:

It was a storm of a show, hits and deep cuts circling each other like a slowly building hurricane. The band’s legendary frontman, Dave Grohl, had his signature sense of humor on display throughout the night during a show that was equal parts touching and exhilarating for an audience that screamed along with every word that was sung.

The Portland show kicks off at 5:30 p.m. For those not attending, earplugs can likely be picked up at the nearby Zupan’s or Fred Meyer on Burnside.

— Tyson Alger, The I-5 Corridor

(Craig Mitchelldyer/Timbers on the timelapse featured at the top)