Roaring like a real fan of the Foos

A big rock show is not to be taken lightly, and many fail. The few that excel understand it’s about more than volume and flashing lights, laser beams and smoke bombs. Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters knows it’s mostly about connection, and for more than two hours at the Forum in Inglewood on Wednesday, he delivered on an epic scale, showing great instincts not just as a rocker but as a real fan.

From the show’s first moments, Grohl ran to the edge of the stage, held up his guitar and lingered through the cheers before the Foos dove into the roar and regret of “Let It Die.” Soon he was sprinting down the catwalk deep into the crowd during “Times Like These” and leading an a cappella singalong on the opening verse of “Breakout.” He does these things not for ego and showbiz, but maybe because that’s what he’d want to see if he were in the crowd himself.

“This is not the bargain show,” Grohl announced happily. “This is the show where everybody who has to work tomorrow is [in trouble]!”

Grohl was openly thrilled to be playing at the Forum (in the first of two sold-out nights), joking that it “only took 13 years” for the band to get there, though he’d played the arena in 1994 as the drummer for Nirvana. And the night’s set was not merely about playing hits for the kids, but an exercise in rocking loud and hard.

The Foos were a great singles band from the beginning in 1995, delivering a potent stream of radio songs, including the urgent hard-rock hooks of “The Pretender,” from the new album, “Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace.” In recent years, Grohl and the band have developed into sophisticated album artists, taking surprising musical twists. The band’s newest single, “Long Road to Ruin,” sounds like early Eagles (circa 1974’s “On the Border”) infiltrating modern rock radio.

At the Forum, fans surged forward for much of it, hopping in place, shouting along to “My Hero” as the house lights came up, illuminating the crowd for a communal moment on the scale of U2 or Springsteen. Later, a small round stage was lowered to the floor, bringing the band deeper into the room, where the Foos unleashed the acoustic “Marigold” and a violin solo from Jessy Greene.

The band eventually drifted back down the catwalk, leaving Grohl alone for an acoustic “Everlong,” before he sprinted back for an explosive finish.

Grohl is a unique rock figure, a fully realized utility player as effective with a guitar and microphone as he is occasionally throttling the drums behind such heavyweights as Lemmy Kilmister and Queens of the Stone Age. As a songwriter and bandleader, he’s closer to Tom Petty than his roots in metal and hard-core would suggest, though those rock extremes still give his delivery fire and focus.

Wednesday’s set was another rare, but natural bit of showmanship. There had been some of that from support act Serj Tankian, who learned to carry an arena as the singer for System of a Down and who returned to the Forum with his new solo work. He’ll be back.

But the night belonged to the Foos. It was approaching midnight, and an encore was still to come, including an appearance by Police drummer Stewart Copeland, but at the end of the main set, Grohl stopped long enough for a message both goofy and genuine.

“I hope you guys had fun,” he said. “I did. See you around. Take care. I love you . . .”

Spoken like a true fan.