Dave Grohl and Taylor Swift
Photo by Astrida Valigorsky/Getty Images / Shirlaine Forrest/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management

‘We actually play live’: Foo Fighter’s Dave Grohl throws massive shade at Taylor Swift, but she shakes it off faster than you can say ‘billionaire’ 

As Taylor would say, the haters gonna hate.

Dave Grohl may be the one person in the world who doesn’t want tickets to Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour — we didn’t think that was even possible. The Foo Fighters member and former Nirvana drummer recently threw massive shade at the Tortured Poets Department singer when he claimed she doesn’t sing live.

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Both the Foo Fighters and Swift played concerts in London in June 2024. While on stage, Grohl told the audience, “So we like to call our tour ‘The Errors’ tour. We’ve had more than a few eras, and more than a few f***ing errors as well… That’s because we actually play live. What!”

Swifties know that the pop star doesn’t always respond to the waves of criticism she often gets — besides being super honest in the Netflix documentary Miss Americana about the body image struggles she has had — but Swift may actually have commented on Dave Grohl’s accusation during one of her live shows.

According to CNN, Swift swatted away Groh’s accusations on the third night of her Wembley Stadium, London show at the top of the show.

“Every one of my band members, every single one of our crew, my band — who’s gonna be playing live for you for three-and-a-half hours tonight — they deserve this so much.”

We know Swift is super caring toward her crew, even giving the Eras Tour truck drivers massive bonuses, so she might have sung their praises either way. However, it does seem like she was responding to Grohl’s comments, and we can’t blame her for wanting to set the record straight. From what we know of Swift, she’s proud of what she’s accomplished and Grohl’s words must have hurt.

As for why Grohl would say this about Swift — many have pointed out that Grohl’s daughter Violet has questioned Swift’s frequent jet-setting practices on X, saying, “why can’t taylor swift just drive like everyone else.” As pointed out on Reddit, some of Swift’s fans went after Violet for her comments.

Taylor Swift performing "Our Song" during the acoustic set in the Eras Tour
Screengrab via Disney Plus

This isn’t actually the first time someone has accused Swift of lip-synching. Still, it’s surprising that someone would make this claim given the long hours and hard work the singer seems to have put into the Eras Tour (and, we’d say, every other tour she’s done).

According to Newsweek, a fan posted on X in May 2024 and wrote, “don’t mean this to be hateful but …… we can all see she’s lip syncing right?” People weren’t happy to read that post and quickly came to the singer’s defense. While people might wonder how Swift can possibly make it through her Eras shows, which are several hours long and involve lots of dancing and moving around, we’d point them to the Times‘ Person of the Year article in which Swift revealed her preparation for the tour included singing her entire 3-hour set list while running on the treadmill.

Whether we’ve been lucky enough to see Swift’s incredible Eras Tour in person, or just obsessed over the many videos lovely fans have posted online, we know it’s an amazing feat, from the choreography to the outfits to the different song lists she puts together. If she really wasn’t singing live, we wouldn’t be the only fans upset about that. There’s no proof that what Dave Grohl said is true, in its entirety.

Plus, as she so eloquently sang in “Shake It Off,” the haters are gonna hate, hate, hate but she just gonna shake, shake, shake it off. All the way to the bank.


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Author
Image of Aya Tsintziras
Aya Tsintziras
Aya Tsintziras is a freelance writer at We've Got This Covered who has been writing about pop culture since 2014. She has a Masters of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University and enjoys writing about TV dramas, horror movies, and celebrities. When not working, she's reading a thriller novel, catching up on The Real Housewives, and spending time with friends and family.