Saturday’s tribute concert to Taylor Hawkins was a mostly joyous yet emotional celebration of the late Foo Fighters drummer. The Foo Fighters hosted the first of two tribute shows to Hawkins at Wembley Stadium in London. The star-studded affair featured Metallica’s Lars Ulrich and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson joining the Foo Fighters on stage to perform AC/DC classics “Back In Black” and “Let There Be Rock.”
The show also featured performances by Paul McCartney, Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Travis Barker, Them Crooked Vultures, The James Gang, Wolfgang Van Halen, Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen, Justin Hawkins, Stewart Copeland, Chrissie Hynde and many more.
Following many guest spots, the Foo Fighters took the stage to perform their own songs for the first time since Hawkins’ passing. Dave Grohl tearfully began the song “Times Like These,” and the singer paused briefly as his voice cracked. The audience cheered him through the difficult moment, and soon after the band rocked out to the tune. A cast of rotating drummers including Josh Freese, Travis Barker, Nandi Bushnell, Rufus Tiger Taylor, Omar Hakims and lastly, Hawkins’ son Shane who played on “My Hero.”
The highly poignant moments were live-streamed on the Paramount streaming service as well as MTV’s YouTube channel. “Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we’ve gathered here to celebrate the life, the music and the love of our dear friend, our bandmate, our brother Taylor Hawkins,” said Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl as he stood next to his bandmates to kick off the show.
“For those of you who knew him personally, you know that no one else could make you smile or laugh or dance or sing like he could. And for those of you admired him from afar, I’m sure you’ve all felt the same thing. So, tonight we’ve gathered with family and his closest friends, his musical heroes and greatest inspirations to bring you a gigantic f*cking night for a gigantic f*cking person. So, sing and dance and laugh and cry and f*cking scream and make some f*cking noise so he can hear us right now. ‘Cause you know what? It’s gonna be a loooong f*cking night, right?”
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