Foo Fighters Debut ‘Waiting on a War’ on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

The Foo Fighters brought their new single, “Waiting on a War,” to Jimmy Kimmel Live Thursday night — the first performance of a song Dave Grohl wrote for his daughter, Harper.

When the band dropped their new Medicine at Midnight track on Thursday, Grohl also released a statement about its conception: “Last fall, as I was driving my daughter to school, she turned to me and asked, ‘Daddy, is there going to be a war?’ My heart sank as I realized that she was now living under the same dark cloud that I had felt 40 years ago. I wrote ‘Waiting on a War’ that day. Every day waiting for the sky to fall. Is there more to this than that? Is there more to this than just waiting on a war? Because I need more. We all do. This song was written for my daughter, Harper, who deserves a future, just as every child does.”

Grohl also tweeted about the song on Wednesday, recalling his experience growing up in the D.C. suburbs as the threat of a Cold War loomed. “I had nightmares of missiles in the sky and soldiers in my backyard, most likely brought upon by the political tension of the early Eighties and my proximity to the Nation’s Capitol,” he wrote. “My youth was spent under the dark cloud of a hopeless future.”

The new song and performance come in tandem with news that the Foo Fighters will be performing at Celebrating America, a primetime special heralding the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20th.

“Waiting on a War” is the third song to be released off of Medicine at Midnight, following “No Son of Mine,” which was released on New Year’s Day, and “Shame Shame,” which arrived last November. Medicine at Midnight is the Foo Fighters’ 10th studio album and is set to drop on February 5th.