Foo Fighters to perform surprise show in SLO this weekend. How to score tickets

Surprise! The Foo Fighters will play a last-minute concert in San Luis Obispo this weekend, and you’ll have to line up in person to get tickets.

On Friday evening, the ’90s rock band known for hits like “Learn to Fly,” “Everlong” and “Best of You,” announced it would be playing and all-ages concert at the Fremont Theater in downtown San Luis Obispo — the next day.

“SOUND ON,” the band wrote on its social media pages just after 8 p.m. “See you Saturday in San Luis Obispo.”

Though the concert had not been announced ahead of Friday night, eagle-eyed fans may have noticed something was up earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, the band shared a post on social media saying only, “Weird frequencies.”

The post featured a photo of parody singer and songwriter “Weird Al” Yankovic when he was a student at Cal Poly, a photo that appears to mash up Yankovic and Foo Fighters founder Dave Grohl and a final photo showing the infamous Cal Poly bathroom where Yankovic recorded his first hit, “My Bologna.”

Two days later, the band’s social media pages featured a photo of a person wearing a Boo Boo Records T-shirt. The photo was captioned “weekend fit check.”

How to get tickets to see Foo Fighters concert in SLO

Tickets go on sale at 8 a.m. at the Fremont Theater, and people were told to begin lining up no earlier than 7 a.m., according to the theater’s website.

By about 11 p.m. Friday evening, however, fans were already lining up near the Fremont and to around Marsh Street.

The group at the front had actually been there since about 6 p.m. already, but waiting in line more than 12 hours to get to see the band was still a no-brainer.

“First off, the venue is great,” Mason Horstmann of San Luis Obispo said. “Super small, it’s like 900 people. And tickets are getting sold for $30, that’s pretty rad.”

“They’re just a classic,” Gabe Jantos, also of San Luis Obispo, cut in. “Everybody knows them, it’s just a big part of music history.”

On Friday night, Horstmann and Jantos held down the front of the line with friends Maddox Lee, Oliver Connelly, Finn Selman, Jarren Jones and Josue Saavedra, sitting around a makeshift camping set up with a ring of chairs next to a sign that read “Line starts here.”

Similar scenes could be seen stretching back along the line with dozens of people hanging out in camping chairs, sitting on sleeping bags and swapping stories with fellow fans as the line wrapped around the block.

The reason for the long line?

All sales will be in person at the Fremont Theater box office, and the person attending the event must be present at the time of purchase with their physical ID and a credit card, the theater warned.

Cash and contactless or digital credit cards won’t be accepted. The Fremont Theater social posts and website did not say how much the tickets will cost as of Friday evening.

There is a two-ticket limit per person, the Fremont website said.

Those who have tickets may start lining up for the show at 5 p.m. Saturday. Doors are expected to open at 7 p.m. Saturday.

A physical ID will be required to enter the venue, no exceptions, the website said. Guests must enter with the person who purchased their ticket or it will be forfeited. According to the website, the event is general admission standing at the front with limited first-come, first-served seating in the back.

For a full list of permitted and prohibited items, visit the Fremont Theater website here.

Foo Fighters are about to embark on a seven-date tour, starting on Oct. 2 in Jakarta, Indonesia. These shows are the band’s first concerts since August 2024.