By Mary J. DiMeglio

DOVER, Delaware -- For his adoring Firefly Festival audience on Friday night, the Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl started soft, with story time: "Good evening, everyone, my name's Dave. Let me tell you, it feels good to be back. I don't know how many of y'all know this, but I spent a lot of time around these parts."

Giving a shoutout to a local pizza place, Grohl confirmed his status as just one of the guys. Onstage alone, he strummed "Times Like These," easing into the set with the campfire-ready singalong.

The rest of the Foos' familiar faces -- including guitarist Pat Smear and drummer Taylor Hawkins -- eventually sauntered onstage to help him rock out at the end. They kept it heavy with "Rope," "The Pretender" and their "White Limo" head-banger.

"We've been playing festivals all over the world, and I'm so glad the festival thing is becoming a big thing in America," Grohl proclaimed.

The frontman teased the release of their follow-up to 2011's Wasting Light, which is expected later this year. "Just so you know, we've made a new album," he said. "We made each song in a different city in America: We did eight songs in eight different cities. Maybe we'll give 'em to you at some point."

The Foo Fighters dipped into their catalog, pulling "My Hero" from 1997's The Colour and the Shape and "Learn to Fly" and "Generator" from 1999's There Is Nothing Left to Lose.

"I know this might sounds crazy, but we've been a band for almost 20 years now. And we used to always start with this one, because this is the first one on that first record," Grohl noted, introducing "This Is A Call" from their 1995 self-titled debut album.

"Monkey Wrench" was dedicated to the Artic Monkeys, who held it down on the main stage just a few hours earlier.

"We're gonna do something we've never done before," Grohl announced. "For the next 20 minutes, we're a bar band called the Holy Sh--s that plays classic rock songs."

In front of a banner displaying the name of their alter ego band, the Foos tore through Alice Cooper's "School's Out," the Rolling Stones' "Miss You," Van Halen's "Ain't Talkin' 'bout Love" and Queen's "Under Pressure."

The Foos' own fan favorite "Everlong," punctuated by fireworks, brought the set to a sparkling close.

Always gracious, the frontman proclaimed, "I'm the luckiest person in the world. I can't wait to come back and play all the new sh-- for you. It's gonna be really fun."