The Trials, Tribulations, and Triumph of #FooShoeGate2021

I haven't had this much fun and anxiety since the last time I had to fight fellow fans on the internet for concert tickets before they were sold out. That's my favorite game in non-pandemic times, and it's been a minute since I got to play. And then Vans announced the 25th anniversary edition of Foo Fighters SK8-Hi sneakers and it was game ON.

Look at these, I mean look at 'em! They are a Foo Fan's wet dream. I wear Vans high tops anyway, so for these to exist, with red stitching, the logo, and the band name actually printed on the back of the shoes, holy smokes, I about passed out the first time I saw them, they're beautiful. They even come in an official Foo logo Vans box, where I hope my ashes are placed when I die.

The entire experience of trying to score a pair of these kicks has produced some incredibly angry and disappointed Foo Fans. Here's how it went down. Vans told everyone to sign up for their "Family First" membership so that we could take advantage of the pre-sale on January 28th, they promised to send texts and emails alerting us the moment the shoes were available. That did not happen, the pre-sale shoes were released and gone in about 60 seconds and fans were piiissssed. #vansfail started trending and a lot of us were hurt, like really hurt, that we didn't get our shoes. So the general on sale is supposed to be today, January 29th. I had been refreshing the buy screen all day yesterday in hopes that some would be released. Then last night at about 10 p.m., Foo Fighters nonchalantly posted on Instagram that the shoes were now available in their official online store. The internet lost their shit and the shoes were, again, gone in about 5 minutes. So I tried the Foos European website, knowing that people in the UK were likely asleep, and scored a pair in my size. PHEW! Talk about adrenaline rush.

At that point I was supposed to be going to bed because of that whole morning show gig I've got on Alt 101.5, and that's when the new Weezer album "OK Human" dropped, so I had to stay up and listen to that in it's entirety. While listening, I thought I'd just try the Vans website one more time and boom, I randomly got another pair in my size. And I need two pair, one for wearing and one for burial. My son knows these are my funeral shoes. Am I selfish for taking two pair when others have none? Maybe, but I put the blood, sweat, and tears into making it happen, so whatever. By the way, the new Weezer album is very pretty, lots of string arrangements, what I like to call a "naptime album."

I see the Foo Shoes are now going for hundreds of dollars from scalpers on ebay, they were originally $75 with free shipping, so that sucks. If you need some, try the Vans website, sometimes they're available, other times they're not, you just have to keep trying. Good Luck, Foo Friend.