Dave Grohl shares story of uncomfortable encounter with David Bowie

Dave Grohl has opened up about an unintentionally awkward moment he had with David Bowie, admitting he somehow offended the icon almost immediately after meeting him.

Speaking on Dish from Waitrose with Nick Grimshaw and Angela Hartnett OBE, the Foo Fighters frontman said he first watched Bowie perform at a festival and was completely blown away by what he saw.

He remembered: “I had just seen him perform at a, like a V Festival or something like that.

“It was like Prodigy, David Bowie and we happened to be on the bill. I was standing in the photo pit and he was right there, he was right above me singing. It was unreal. I mean, it felt like something spiritual. I was just like, ‘He's an angel, this is incredible’.”

But when Grohl crossed paths with Bowie in the studio not long after, his attempt to explain that feeling did not land the way he hoped.

He went on: “I told him when I met him in the studio, I said, ‘I just saw you, like, it was such a trip to see you in human form right there, right in front of me.’ And he says, ‘What did you think? What did you feel?’ And I'm like, ‘Oh f***.’”

Put on the spot, Grohl admitted he ended up saying the wrong thing entirely.

He explained: “So, the first thing to come out of my mouth, like an idiot, I said, ‘Well, the first thing I noticed was all of your imperfections’. I backpedalled so fast. I don't know how I got out of that one. But I was like, what did I just ... I would never say that to anybody. Isn't that horrible?”

Even with the awkward moment, Grohl said Bowie’s presence in the studio was nothing short of incredible.

He said: “I swear to God, he's one take his voice, it's the voice, there's no effect. It's just exactly like this. You get chills. You're like, ‘Oh my God, that's the most reassuring, beautiful thing, this is real’.”

Dish from Waitrose is available on all podcast providers.