LAST UPDATE | 22 Feb

IF YOU HAPPENED to spot men in their mid-forties breaking into a light jog in Dublin’s outer suburbs this morning – well, mystery solved: stadium-filling US rockers Foo Fighters announced a surprise gig in Dublin’s Academy tomorrow night and tickets were only available on a first-come-first-served basis in the city centre today. 

The veteran group, fronted by former Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, are due to embark on a multi-date European and US tour in the coming months, and confirmed warm-up gigs in London and Manchester alongside the Dublin one in a series of surprise announcements.

Foo Fighters headlined Slane Castle in 2015 and sold out the RDS on a more recent visit to Ireland. Given that Abbey Street’s Academy has a capacity of around 800, there was no shortage of interest in tomorrow’s surprise appearance, with large crowds making their way to another Dublin venue, the Olympia Theatre, to pick up a ticket. 

Came to the Olympia to get Foo Fighters tickets for their academy gig tomorrow and they’ve put us inside the venue. Dunno what’s about to happen 👀 pic.twitter.com/mcEtS4Nyy9

— Cian ☘️🇾🇪 (@Cian_McGivern) February 22, 2026

The social posts had said the tickets would be on sale from midday – in fact, they were being allocated almost as soon as the announcement went live online mid-morning.

Hopeful fans turning up at the venue were given armbands, ushered into the theatre and asked to sit in the stalls – before, eventually, being taken row by row to purchase tickets at the box office. 

Hard-copy tickets were sold for €99 each with a limit of two per person – a relative steal compared to the amount charged for, for instance, last year’s Oasis shows at Croke Park. 

There was a mixture of relief and anticipation as fans (one from The Journal amongst them) handed over their credit cards after a wait inside the venue of over an hour. 

In a measure to guard against re-selling, the lead ticket holder’s name was printed on each copy and fans were told they’re strictly non-transferable. 

The group are due to release a new album, Your Favourite Toy, at the end of April – with Grohl promising the record will be full of “noisy bangers” that feel like they’re from “the old days”. 

They performed the title track from the album, accompanied by Jake Shears of the Scissors Sisters, on Graham Norton’s BBC chat show on Friday night.