Pat Smear to sit out upcoming Foo Fighters shows due to “bizarre gardening accident”

Foo Fighters guitarist Pat Smear will be missing several of the band’s upcoming shows due to a “bizarre gardening accident”.

• READ MORE: Foo Fighters live in Manchester: invincible and still untouchable

In a post on Instagram, the band humorously explained that in the “classic tradition” of rockstars having garden-based accidents, Smear ended up “smashing the shit out of his left foot” as a way of ringing in the New Year.

“This means he’ll unfortunately be missing a few shows while the multiple broken bones in his foot heal. We’ll miss our beloved Pat as much as you will, but we want him fully healed and back on his feet as soon as possible.” the band wrote.

Jason Falkner, who plays guitar for Beck and St. Vincent, will be filling in for Smear while he recovers.

Smear will be missing Foo Fighters’ benefit show for homeless charities Hope the Mission and the Los Angeles Mission at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on January 14 – coinciding with frontman Dave Grohl‘s birthday. He also has to sit out shows in Australia and Mexico this month.

Foo Fighters will be back in the UK and Europe this summer for the ‘Take Cover’ tour, including two shows at Liverpool FC’s Anfield Stadium on June 25 and 27. Support across various dates will include Royel Otis, Inhaler, IDLES, Otoboke Beaver, Fat Dog and Die Spitz. Find dates below and buy your tickets here.

Foo Fighters 2026 ‘Take Cover’ tour dates are:

June
10 – Oslo, Norway Unity Arena *#
12 – Stockholm, Sweden Strawberry Arena *#
15 – Warsaw, Poland PGE Narodowy *#
17 – Munich, Germany Allianz Arena ^#
19 – Paris, France Paris La Défense Arena ^#
25 – Liverpool, UK Anfield Stadium ^#
27 – Liverpool, UK Anfield Stadium *%

July
1 – Berlin, Germany Olympiastadion +”
3 – Vienna, Austria Ernst-Happel-Stadium +”
5 – Milan, Italy I-Days +”
8 – Madrid, Spain Mad Cool Festival
10 -Oeiras, Portugal NOS Alive Festival

* Royel Otis supports
^ Inhaler supports
+ IDLES supports
# Otoboke Beaver supports
% Die Spitz supports
“ Fat Dog supports

News of the dates follows the band sharing details of their forthcoming 2026 North American stadium tour, as well as the release of new single called ‘Asking For A Friend’.

They had also hinted that they were “about to take flight” into their next era, and gearing up to share the follow-up to this summer’s stand-alone single, ‘Today’s Song’.

In other news, last month the band’s ex-drummer Josh Freese revealed that he still isn’t sure why he was let go from their line-up.

He was replaced by former Nine Inch Nails stickman Ilan Rubin, with Freese going in the opposite direction, appearing with Trent Reznor and co. on their North American tour in August.

uring a radio appearance on December 10 (via Loudwire), he was asked if he is yet to be given a reason for being released. “Not really” he replied. “I mean, I’ve got a couple of theories, but I feel like people are so interested in that because they’re such a massive band that I’m kind of hesitant to comment at all about it yet because anything I say is gonna be used and thrown around and republished and reposted.”