Foo Fighters to hold Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts in London and Los Angeles
The band will join forces with Hawkins' family and a selection of special guests to celebrate his life
By Nick Reilly
Foo Fighters have announced they will play two special tribute concerts in London and Los Angeles later this year to celebrate the life of their late drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
Hawkins was found dead at his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia in March, hours before the band were due to play a show at the city’s Estéreo Picnic festival. A cause of death was not given, but a subsequent post-mortem revealed he had a cocktail of drugs in his system at the time.
Now, the band’s surviving members – Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee – have announced they will come together with Hawkins’ family to celebrate the late drummer at two special concerts.
The band will play for the first time since Hawkins’ death at London’s Wembley Stadium on September 3, before heading to Los Angeles’ Kia Forum on September 27. The lineups for each show will be announced shortly, while tickets will go on sale from June 17.
A statement on the band’s website stated: “As one of the most respected and beloved figures in modern music, Taylor’s monolithic talent and magnetic personality endeared him to millions of fans, peers, friends and fellow musical legends the world over. Millions mourned his untimely passing on March 25, with passionate and sincere tributes coming from fans as well as musicians Taylor idolised.
“The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts will unite several of those artists, the Hawkins family and of course his Foo Fighters brothers in celebration of Taylor’s memory and his legacy as a global rock icon—his bandmates and his inspirations playing the songs that he fell in love with, and the ones he brought to life.”
A separate statement from Hawkins’ wife Alison thanked fans for their support after his death.
“My deepest thanks and admiration go out to the global Foo Fighters community and Taylor’s fans far and wide for the outpouring of love each and every one of you have shown our beloved Taylor,” she wrote.
“Your kindness has been an invaluable comfort for my family and me during this time of unimaginable grief.
“As Taylor’s wife, and on behalf of our children, I want to share how much you meant to him and how dedicated he was to ‘knocking your socks off’ during every performance. Taylor was honoured to be a part of the Foo Fighters and valued his dream role in the band every minute of his 25 years with them. We consider every band member and the extended Foo Fighters team our family.
“Taylor’s endearing spirit and deep love of music will live on forever through the collaborations he so enjoyed having with other musicians and the catalogue of songs he contributed to and created.
“In celebration of his life, it is now up to all of us who loved him most to honour Taylor’s legacy and the music he gave us.
“Thank you all again for your love and sympathy. Taylor loved all of you & we love you too.”
Tributes from across the music world flooded in after Hawkins’ death was announced, with Miley Cyrus, a noted Foo Fighters fan, sharing a photograph of herself and Hawkins to her Instagram stories, writing, “This is how I’ll always remember you,” and added that her upcoming concert would be dedicated to him.
Coldplay’s Chris Martin also dedicated a song to him at a show in Mexico, while Brian May shared his memories of the legendary drummer in a recent interview with Rolling Stone UK.