Dave Grohl Dedicates ‘My Hero’ at Power to the People Festival

Dave Grohl turned Foo Fighters’ performance of “My Hero” at the Power to the People Festival into a pointed dedication, offering the song to someone he called his “new friend Jack.” Former federal special counsel Jack Smith was seen in the audience, according to concert coverage, although Grohl did not use Smith’s full name from the stage.

The moment placed one of Foo Fighters’ most recognizable songs inside a festival built around political expression and collective action. Grohl’s clothing added another layer to the appearance: he performed in an Iowa Hawkeyes shirt, which the report interpreted as a reference to a recent congressional exchange involving Smith.

Foo Fighters mixed hits with personal reflection

The band’s set moved through “Times Like These,” “All My Life,” “The Pretender,” “Best of You” and “Everlong,” along with a cover of “Young Man Blues.” Rather than treating the festival as a standard tour stop, Grohl also used the stage to reflect on earlier political campaigning and the lessons he absorbed from meeting people in smaller communities.

He connected that memory to his late mother, Virginia, who worked as a public-school teacher for 35 years. Grohl described face-to-face conversation as central to understanding what people need, turning the space between songs into a tribute to both civic participation and his mother’s example.

A festival built on cross-generational rock

Grohl’s involvement extended beyond the Foo Fighters set. Earlier in the event, he joined Tom Morello for a cover of KISS’s “Rock and Roll All Nite.” A concert video from the performance shows the two musicians sharing the stage, reinforcing the festival’s collaborative character.

For Grohl, the day combined familiar stadium-ready songs with a looser, message-driven setting. “My Hero” has often served as an audience singalong, but the brief dedication redirected attention toward a specific person in the crowd while leaving the identification partly implicit.

That balance made the moment travel beyond the festival itself: a well-known rock anthem, a carefully phrased introduction and a set shaped by personal history. The performance did not become a long political speech. Instead, Grohl used the song choice, the dedication and a few stories to make his position legible while keeping the music at the center.