Foo Fighters: Couple gets engaged at concert, meets band members

When Dana Chamberlain stumbled upon Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins and Nate Mendel at a local record store before Saturday night's concert in Sioux Falls, she asked herself, "How could this day get any better?"

Little did she know what her then-boyfriend Brett Frerkes had planned for the show.

The Nebraska couple met a few years ago through work. Frerkes, 42, is a maintenance person at the school in Millard, Neb. where Chamberlain, 42, teaches sixth grade social studies.

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"My fiance and I, we made our first connection over the Foo Fighters," said Chamberlain, an Augustana University alum. "I would always play my music at school. He knowing I listened to the Foo Fighters gave us something to talk about. We really bonded talking about them."

Both are long-time fans of the band. Frerkes met Dave Grohl in 1993, when the Foo Fighters frontman was the drummer for Nirvana.

Conversations over their love for the Foo Fighters and vinyl records eventually led to a first date. When tickets went on sale for the Sioux Falls show, the couple jumped on the opportunity to see the rock legends.

They arrived early, so Frerkes and Chamberlain decided to swing by Crosstown Vinyl to flip through the records before the show.

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As they walked inside, owner Steve Zastrow asked if they were in town for the concert. Then he nodded towards Taylor Hawkins and Nate Mendel, the drummer and bassist for the Foo Fighters, who were browsing.

"I just freaked out," said Chamberlain, who scored a picture with the musicians and a signed copy of their newest album "Concrete and Gold."

Later that night, the couple rocked out with the thousands of other fans crowded around the stage at the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

Eventually, the Foo Fighters finished their main set and left the stage. As the crowd waited anxiously for the encore, Frerkes knelt down.

"I thought he must have dropped something. And he has this guitar pick with a question mark on it," said Chamberlain.

As she flipped the pick over, the words 'will you marry me' jumped out and her jaw dropped to the ground.

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"The crowd around us is parting and I’m just standing there like 'Is this really happening?" said Chamberlain. "I just kept grabbing him and hugging him and kissing him. I’m telling him yes and I can’t tell if he hears me because it's so loud."

Soon after the proposal, the Foo Fighters came back on stage and the couple listened to the last three songs as fiances.

"It felt like fate. It felt like the Foo Fighters' musical approval on us," said Chamberlain.

If you have an event or story idea that fits into the Sioux Falls dining or entertainment theme, Alexa Giebink can be reached at agiebink@argusleader.com. Follow her on twitter @ArgusAGiebink