CONCORD, Calif. — Rarely does a skinny middle-aged man with long hair get away with approaching a crowd of more than 12,000 people, point their way and promise he and his five buddies are going to kick their asses “for the next three hours.”

Well, two hours and 40 minutes, which is still a lot of ass-kicking for a Tuesday night in suburban Contra Costa County.

Dave Grohl and his gang of Foo Fighters wiped the East Bay hillside with those 12,500 people Tuesday night at Toyota Pavilion in Concord. And the wipees loved every second of it. Because they expected it.

The Foos have been a great live band for nearly 30 years. Everyone knows it. They’re one of the few bands that can make a mediocre record into a meaningful and memorable music experience simply by playing it live.

You know who else does that? The kings of live arena rock and roll for the past 50 years or so: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band

It’s not a light comparison. Both bands have clearly discernible, supremely likable leaders who are quick-witted, expert songwriters who call their bandmates friends before they get to the bandmate part. Both are rock stars known for their generosity and ability to connect to the everyday person. Both surround themselves with great musicians, then demand they have fun on stage. To fully appreciate and understand either is to see them live. Both are usually pouring sweat by the third song and play energized emotional musical tennis with the crowds they’re desperate to involve.

The Foo Fighters may have inherited the title of best live rock band on Earth.

They certainly were in contention Tuesday. After Grohl challenged the crowd – one of the most involved bunches I’ve ever seen at the Pavilion – the Foos launched into an adrenalized “All My Life,” followed by “No Son of Mine,” which Grohl, at various times, turned into AC/DC’s “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap,” Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”

Because it was fun, that’s why.

The Foo Fighters write songs for live audiences, with ascending and descending dynamics and choruses made for singalongs, like in “The Pretender,” “Learning to Walk Again” and “Times Like These,” which Grohl started quietly with church-like keyboard parts backing him through the first two verses and choruses (a prime example of making a mediocre song special in concert) and the band jumping in to bring the whole thing up again.

The noisy “White Limo” was a bit of a throwaway until the thunder came back in a massive version of “Stacked Actors.” If there was a drummer to adequately replace the late Taylor Hawkins, it’s Josh Freese – a freakishly skilled musician who not only can play everything thrown at him but is a superb bedrock-solid player whose bass drum kicking can be physically felt in the crowd. The former Nine Inch Nails basher makes few mistakes while taking lots of chances and showing first-rate versatility all over the kit. He fits well.

The Foos do a great job of rearranging songs before taking them on the road to freshen things up. There was an epic breakdown and singalong during “Breakout,” with Grohl’s necessary hair-raising scream and a vicious solo from guitarist Chris Shiflett. The guitarist later, during band introductions, managed to squeeze in pieces of Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” Montrose’s “Bad Motor Scooter,” Van Halen’s “Eruption” and AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck,” during which the band joined for a quick go-through.

“My Hero” started as a sweet piano ballad, built back up to the song we know, then went back down again. The underrated “The Sky is a Neighborhood” set up the former big single “Learn to Fly.”

Shifflet and bassist Nate Mendel showed off nice backing vocals on the powerful and dynamic “Arlandria,” leading to more up and down in “One of These Days.”

Grohl brought things way down for “Statues” and the poppy “Nothing at All” (from the band’s latest album, But Here We Are), in turn setting the crowd up to go back nearly 30 years to the first record for the destructive juggernaut “This is a Call.” The crowd stood for most of the show, but even those who sat down for a quick break were up and banging their skulls. That set up the quirky Bowie-esque “Shame Shame,” with a little guitar showdown between Grohl and Shiflett.

After the typically big “Monkey Wrench,” featuring the night’s best screaming and crowd singalong (and some blistering guitar playing), the Foos remembered Hawkins with what Grohl called Hawkins’ favorite Foo Fighters song, “Aurora,” a fairly gentle song that picks up momentum and ends with the outline of a hawk lit up behind the band. A grinding “Best of You” was followed by energized encore of “The Teacher” and, of course, “Everlong.”

Grohl was right. The Foos kicked ass.

Riot grrrl punk band L7 opened the show with a noisy 8-song set that included many of its most-loved songs like “Pretend We’re Dead,” “Shitlist” and “Andres.”

Other than a lengthy break in 2001, L7 has been around longer than the Foo Fighters, and in concert bridged the gap between ’80s punk to grunge and the sound of the Foos today. The band touched on songs from more than half its discography, including “Stadium West,” from 2019 album Scatter the Rats, its most recent and first in two decades.

Donita Sparks, Jennifer Finch, Suzi Gardner and Demetra Plakas didn’t talk much and let the music be the message. Plakas appeared intently focus on her playing, without making eye contact with the audience.

Follow photographer Sean Liming at Instagram.com/S.Liming.