Posted in: Entertainment History, News, Trivia Q & A | 1 Comment | Posted on July 27, 2022 by Mary Anne

Q. Why did 1000 musicians simultaniously play Foo Fighters ‘Learn To Fly’?

A. In July 2015 in a field just outside of Cesena, Italy, 1000 musicians and singers play Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly” simultaneously with the dream of attracting the band to play a show in their city for the first time in nearly 20 years.

Rockin’ 1000, the group behind the idea, led by Fabrio Zaffanini, assemble hundreds of volunteers and a video crew to orchestrate the epic video shoot of the performance with the intention of getting Dave Grohl, frontman of Foo Fighters, to see it, and respond.

After a full day of shooting, and few more for editing, the video includes a plea for the band to play in the city of less than 100,000 people. Within hours of the video being uploaded to YouTube, it goes viral, garnering over 10 million views, and is shared across Twitter and Facebook worldwide. Dave Grohl responds personally on Foo Fighters Twitter account with, “Ci vediamo a pressa, Cesena…. XXX Davide #Rockin1000.” (Translation: “See you soon, Cesena”).

The following day, proving the power of viral video, Dave posts a personal cell-phone video titled “Per Cesena & #Rockin1000,” and speaking in Italian, he praises the video and ends with, “Stiamo arrivando, prometto,” which translates to “We are coming. I promise.”

In a true storybook ending, on November 3, Foo Fighters take the stage at Nuova Teatro Calisport in Cesena, Italy. Appropriately, the band opens with “Learn to Fly,” and delivers surprise covers over the course of a marathon set, culminating in Grohl asking Fabio and a drummer from the video known as “Mohawk guy,” to sit in on a cover of “Under Pressure” with the band they successfully convinced to come play