New York rocks: Foo Fighters to perform Madison Square Garden return show

This will be the first performance at the venue in more than a year

Foo Fighters are set to perform a reopening concert at Madison Square Garden on June 20, 2021. AP Photo

New York City's Madison Square Garden is ready to rock again.

After 460 days without gigs due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the amps will be turned up once more as Foo Fighters hit the arena for a concert on Sunday, June 20.

According to the venue, the concert will run at 100 per cent of its 20,000 capacity and is open for vaccinated audience members.

Tickets go on sale on Friday, June 11.

Foo Fighters frontman and guitarist Dave Grohl said he is raring to go: “We’ve been waiting for this day for over a year. And Madison Square Garden is going to feel that.”

Performing songs from new album Shame Shame and almost 30 years of hits, including Monkey Wrench and My Hero, the show kicks off a slew of US performances for the Grammy Award winners.

The band have appearances at Smale Park in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Wednesday, July 28 and the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, Illinois, on Thursday July 29, to come.

Bruce Springsteen will also bring his acclaimed Springsteen on Broadway show back to New York's St James Theatre for a new run beginning on Saturday, June 26 until Saturday, September 4.

The intimate concert, recorded for a Netflix special in 2018, also requires proof of vaccination for entry.

The news is a welcome sign for a muted US music industry, which saw blockbuster tours by Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Metallica and Justin Bieber all get cancelled or indefinitely postponed due to the pandemic.

Other major events cancelled included Coachella in Southern California and Burning Man in Nevada, both which had been scheduled for the summer.

Both festivals have been cancelled for the second year running.

Only Coachella, at this stage, has vowed to return with new 2022 dates announced for Friday to Sunday, April 15 to 17 and Friday to Sunday, April 22 to 24.

Other festivals join Lollapalooza on the comeback trail this year.

They include Milwaukee's Summerfest, headlined by Chance The Rapper and Miley Cyrus and running across three weekends in September; BottleRock, with Guns 'N' Roses and Stevie Nicks, in California's Napa Valley from Friday, September 3 to Sunday, September 5; and Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival (Friday, September 10 to Sunday, September 12) headlined by Erykah Badu and Phoebe Bridges.