Dave Grohl Reflects on Foo Fighters Show with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones

Foo Fighters have performed a number of big shows, but their 2008 show at London's Wembley Stadium is among their biggest in both size and guest appearances.

In front of around 70,000 fans, the Foo Fighters delivered a set packed with hits and fan favorites, and then came the encore when Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones took to the stage to perform the Led Zeppelin classics "Rock and Roll" and "Ramble On.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Dave Grohl explained the whole thing came about rather seamlessly. During their set at Wembley at Live Earth in 2007, Grohl told the crowd the band would be back to do a headlining show soon.

"And in the middle of the set I jokingly announced to the audience that we would be back to play Wembley multiple nights," said Grohl. "I was kidding! Because at that point we had never even headlined a stadium. So about a year later when my manager asked if we wanted to [do it], of course we had to pull out all the stops."

Grohl continued, "And then someone asked us if we wanted to have some special guests. So being a Led Zeppelin freak — you know, I’ve got Led Zeppelin tattoos — I thought 'Well, we’ve gotta call John Paul Jones.' We had wound up performing 'The Pretender' with him that year at the Grammys and we made friends so I figured, this is the most momentous occasion of my entire life, why not call the band that changed it all for me?"

From there, Grohl then got on the phone with Page and the guitar god was all it.

"He basically said 'Well what do you want to do?' And I was terrified to answer. I felt like I was in a waking dream," said Grohl. "But I had to say something, so I said 'How about “Rock and Roll”?' so he said 'Yeah, what else?' I said 'How about “Ramble On”?' he said, 'Great, see you at rehearsals.' I mean it was that easy, I couldn’t believe it."

The rest is history.

The entire Foo Fighters 2008 Wembley show was recently uploaded to the band's YouTube channel, and it's embedded below. To view Page and Jones' appearance at the show, jump to the 1:33:40 mark.

(WARNING: Some explicit language ahead.)