Saturday Night Live stumbled into its Christmas break last night with a difficult episode led by Kevin Hart. But musical guests Foo Fighters were everything that you’d expect—consummate performers in embarrassing sweaters. They performed recent single “The Sky Is a Neighborhood” and then used “Everlong” as a springboard into a festive medley of "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" and "Linus and Lucy."
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“The Sky Is a Neighborhood” is actually a perfectly fine song. It keeps Dave Grohl’s voice on the gruff underside of a full-throated roar, a good place for him to be. It doesn’t have the melody of the similarly larynx-mangling “Best of You,” for example, but it works in its way, catching a little off-beat groove when the creepy, chanted backing vocals kick in.
The solo version of “Everlong” obviously isn’t new—Foo Fighters have been closing their set with that for well over a decade. But they do it because it works. “Everlong” is one of those near-perfect rock songs: simple, feverish, caught up in its moment but terrified that the moment will end. In 20 years, when he’s pushing 70, Grohl will still be standing on arena stages singing acoustic versions of this. It’ll still have its charm. The ensuing Christmas medley is watching for the ridiculous hard rock cover of “Linus and Lucy” alone.Follow Alex Robert Ross on Twitter.