The surviving members of Foo Fighters returned to the stage on Saturday for the first of two tribute concerts to their late drummer Taylor Hawkins.
“We’ve gathered here to celebrate the life, the music and the love of our dear friend, our bandmate, our brother, Taylor Hawkins,” Grohl told the crowd at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Hawkins was found dead on March 25 in his room at the Four Seasons Casa Medina in Bogotá, Colombia while the Foo Fighters were on tour. He was 50.
“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 who 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**king night for a gigantic f**king person.”
Grohl urged people to “sing and dance and laugh and cry and f**king scream and make some f**king noise so he can hear us right now.”
An emotional highlight of the nearly six-hour concert was a performance by Foo Fighters of their 1997 song “My Hero” with Hawkins’ 16-year-old son Shane on drums.
A father-and-son photo appeared on the video screen behind the drums before the teen launched into the track.
A long line-up of guests came out on stage during the night, including Paul McCartney, Liam Gallagher, Lars Ulrich, Travis Barker, Brian Johnson, Mark Ronson, Joe Walsh and Grohl’s daughter Violet.
“Now if there’s one band that I always associated Taylor Hawkins with, it’s these next two guys,” Grohl said before introducing surviving Rush members Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson.
“Taylor got up and played with two guys once, in their hometown of Toronto, Canada. And I have to say, it was not only one of the greatest nights of my life watching him do that, but perhaps, one of the greatest night of his.”
Grohl got on drums to perform Rush classics with Lee and Lifeson.
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Before Brian May and Roger Taylor joined Foo Fighters to do five songs, a video was played showing Hawkins talking about going to a Queen concert when he was only 10 years old.
“I watched the f**king drummer, and I said, ‘I wanna f**king be him, I wanna do that’,” Hawkins said.
May and Taylor were joined on stage by Luke Spiller of The Struts, Justin Hawkins of The Darkness, Sam Ryder and Taylor’s son Rufus.
Another tribute concert is scheduled to take place on Sept. 27 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.