Midway into the gig, Dave Grohl suddenly announces: We've never headlined an arena before."It is an innocuous statement,but one laden with significance.

Eight years ago, Grohl's previous band, Nirvana, were booked to play these arenas before Kurt Cobain's suicide tragically intervened. As Grohl surveys the cheering thousands, you can't help but wonder if this drummer-turned-frontman is pondering what might have been. However, the present should hold his attention.

Foo Fighters have become virtually as popular as Nirvana. Their new and best album, One by One, topped the UK album chart and reached number three in the US. Not long ago, the Foos were still playing small venues, but their quantum leap has coincided with the fashion for loud guitars. By dabbling with bubblegum pop, punk, classic rock and possibly the loudest love songs ever, they have a winning formula that could work in punk clubs, clothes shops or taxis. Judging from the smattering of T-shirts, the Nirvana connection has attracted some old fans, but Grohl does not trade upon his past. As one kid's shirt puts it: "He doesn't have to play Teen Spirit!"

Yet Grohl has grasped the importance of raw guts and passion, as songs from One by One are delivered with intensity. Grohl's drumming background has an unexpected knock-on effect: the Foos have percussive insistence more akin to voodoo rituals and earthquakes than a melodic rock band. Equally,Grohl is afar cleverer chap than your regular hair-flailing frontman. He asks who saw the Foos' early Manchester gigs, prompting an unfeasible sea of hands. Then he says: I guess bands would have a drum solo here," prompting - yes - an ironic drum solo.

Evidently he has turned his professed discomfort with the "hockey arena" game into an ability to play it expertly. That is almost as neat a trick as ending up in not one, but two of the biggest rock bands of recent times.

· At the NEC, Birmingham, tonight. Box office: 0870 909 4133.Then touring.