AUSTIN — Many rock fans dream of playing on stage with their favorite band. For one Austin man, that dream became a reality Wednesday night.
Yayo Sanchez has played the guitar since he was eight years old and performed for several bands in Austin in his lifetime.
But no other experience compares to the one Sanchez had Wednesday. In front of thousands of rock and roll fans, Sanchez strummed along on stage with his favorite band: The Foo Fighters.
The Foo Fighters are a Grammy-award winning American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington. The group was created by Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl as a one-man project following the disbanding of Nirvana after the death of Kurt Cobain.
Sanchez is an up-and-coming Austin artist -- an artist The Foo Fighters front man calls “KISS guy.”
The 25-year-old fan showed up to The Foo Fighters concert at Austin360 Amphitheater looking like a member of KISS.
“Your name is KISS Guy right now,” Grohl said.
“It was nuts, man,” Sanchez said. “That was definitely the best day of my life, hands down.”
Sanchez told KVUE his concert attire was only a joke, but one that caught the attention of his favorite rock stars.
"They started making fun of me throughout the show. 'Is that a mask? Is that real?'," Sanchez said.
Then Sanchez seized a moment he’d had been waiting for all night: a chance to play the song "Monkey Wrench" alongside his favorite band of all time. He learned the chords just hours before the show.
"I was like, 'Ah, let's do this,'” Sanchez told KVUE. “And I woke up, and I was excited for the concert. And I just started learning it, and I watched the live version and picked up on what they do."
The Foo Fighters picked Sanchez out of a crowd of thousands of fans to play at the sold out concert. Sanchez’s performance was so captivating, Grohl forgot the lyrics to his own song.
One could say the performance was years in the making – a dream come true. Sanchez said he doesn’t think anything will top the time he played on stage with The Foo Fighters.
“I peaked. I'm done," Sanchez joked.
A YouTube video captured Sanchez’s magical moment, which has been viewed more than 500,000 times.
Sanchez said he's using all the attention he's receiving to showcase his talent on his own songs, which he told KVUE he planned to release Friday night on his website.