Sound City Players, Forum, London

As an experiment, tonight’s Sound City Players show at The Forum in Kentish Town would have even the nerds of The Big Bang Theory scratching their heads at the muddled results. Is it a success? Some would think so, but many leave not entirely sure if they have witnessed something sublime or something of a self-indulgent curio.

A collective of musicians that feature in Dave Grohl’s hugely entertaining Sound City feature documentary; the Sound City Players - backed by most of the Foo Fighters as a kind of house band - have all recorded significant albums at the legendary Sound City studio which is the subject of Grohl’s film. Here in lies one of the problems of tonight’s show. All the good will in the world can’t hide the fact that the selection of musicians who’ve made the trip to London have made very little impact on British soil - and most tellingly - on the assembled and mostly youthful Foo Fighters fans that pack out the Forum. If you can’t get the whole crowd to sing along to classic Eighties hit ‘Jessie’s Girl’ then you’re fighting one hell of a losing battle.

Performance-wise the show is a flawless display of musicianship, Grohl sharing vocal, guitar and drumming duties with his merry band of musos. Alain Johannes is first up of the ‘guests’ and while he is greeted warmly by the assembled throng, his section of the show can’t muster much more than a gentle sway and the odd appreciative nod. Similarly, Chris Goss of Masters of Reality manages to at least get some vaguely more vigorous head swinging from the audience, but ultimately very few recognise the songs being played and therefore the reaction could be best described as muted.

Lee Ving of LA band Fear bounds onstage like a ball of energy in his first visit to London and wins the audience over with his affable air and cheeky grin. One or two people in the crowd bravely attempt to pogo and invoke a punchy atmosphere but this soon dissipates when once again no one recognises the songs.

Things pick up enormously when former 80s heartthrob Rick Springfield is introduced by a clearly deeply in love Grohl; it’s the kind of bromance no one saw coming. Grohl unashamedly makes goo-goo eyes at the striking 63-year-old Springfield who proves himself no slouch on guitar and vocals. Surprisingly rocky and energetic, it seems likely that Sound City will renew the public’s interest in the man who brought us the utterly sublime ‘Jessie’s Girl’. It’s a shame then that a good portion of the audience don’t even seem to recognise the song and it becomes evident that the fault of the show lies more with those who managed to get tickets than the content.

The Foos’ charismatic drummer Taylor Hawkins later takes over singing duties and is joined by Nirvana’s most welcome, tall and imposing bassist, Krist Novoselic and Cheap Trick’s Rick Nielsen on guitar. Cue the audience finally going bananas. Cheap Trick classics ‘I Want You To Want Me’ and ‘Surrender’ get people in the party mood and the crowd are showered with a multitude of guitar picks.

With high hopes for who the special guests would be it begins to feel as if London has been ‘diddled’ in comparison to the handful of dates played in the US: they got the likes of Stevie Nicks and John Fogerty. And with the appearance of one Sir Paul McCartney at the close of the film, it was rumoured and assumed that Macca would saunter on for the encore and sprinkle some stardust. But this is to cheapen the whole point of the evening which, if you see past the slightly muted audience and the lack of stadium-filling names bar the Foo Fighters themselves, is a rare and glorious chance to essentially witness a relatively intimate jamming session with some truly great musicians who are clearly having a blast. In days to come attendees will wake up and realise that this was a true privilege.