Foo Fighters Shock Fans With Live Performance Of “Never Gonna Give You Up” Featuring Rick Astley

The Foo Fighters have always been known for their sense of fun and spontaneity, and their show at London’s O2 Arena was a perfect example of this. The band pulled off an epic Rickroll, surprising the audience with an appearance by Rick Astley himself. The unexpected collaboration featured Astley performing his iconic hit “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

In a playful twist, the Foo Fighters mashed up the chords of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with Astley’s famous song. Astley, known for his smooth vocals, added a bit of rock ‘n’ roll flair to his performance, blending surprisingly well with the band’s energy. The audience couldn’t get enough of it, and the stadium erupted with excitement.

The collaboration was a huge hit, both in the arena and online. Fans were thrilled by the performance, and the clip quickly went viral, garnering 9.1 million views. The fun and unexpected nature of the performance struck a chord with viewers, as seen in the YouTube clip linked below.

At the time of the performance, Rick Astley was 52 years old and had already retired from music once, but his voice was as strong as ever. Foo Fighters’ frontman, Dave Grohl, couldn’t stop smiling throughout the performance, clearly enjoying the surprise and the crowd’s reaction to the rock and pop crossover.

What many might not know is that Foo Fighters and Rick Astley have a bit of history together. Dave Grohl has shared the stage with Astley on several occasions, most notably in Tokyo, where they spontaneously performed “Never Gonna Give You Up” live. Astley has also covered a Foo Fighters song in the studio, a rendition of “Everlong” that also became a hit online.

In his cover of “Everlong,” Astley played acoustic guitar, staying faithful to the original recording while adding his own vocal intensity and dynamics. The result was a beautiful and powerful version of the song, which also gained a lot of attention online, as shown in the video below.

Astley later spoke about his first performance with the Foo Fighters, recalling that it was completely unplanned. He was on the same festival lineup as the Foo Fighters in Japan and found himself right at the side of the stage for their set. Astley mentioned that he’s always admired Grohl and Taylor Hawkins, as drumming is in his DNA.

During the festival, a Foo Fighters roadie approached Astley with a microphone, telling him, “Dave wants you onstage.” Although he was jet-lagged and had a couple of beers in him, Astley couldn’t pass up the chance. He was amazed to find that the band had learned “Never Gonna Give You Up” and had jammed it, preparing to possibly perform it with him.

Astley described the experience as surreal, saying, “So I ended up singing to 50,000 people with the Foo Fighters on a weird and wonderful version of ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. It was proper nuts.” He also gave a heads-up to anyone watching the video, noting that there’s quite a bit of swearing at the start because he “just lost himself in that moment.”