The Taylor Hawkins Tribute: A Play-by-Play

All photos taken by Swathi Srinivasan

CW: Drug use, Overdose

On September 3rd, 2022, I found myself in London’s Wembley Stadium at a concert I never expected to attend: the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert. Honouring the late drummer of the Foo Fighters, who passed away in March 2022, the evening was filled with performances from some of the world’s most esteemed rock stars. As numerous stories were shared of Hawkins’ generosity, kindness, and prowess, the six-hour event raised money for the Music Support and MusiCares charities.

In the days following the event, I closely watched the coverage. The BBC published an article shortly after the event highlighting performances by Dave Grohl, AC/DC, Metallica, and, most notably, Shane Hawkins, the son of the late drummer. The Washington Post and The Guardian followed suit, with articles succinctly recapping the star-studded evening, which also included the likes of Liam Gallagher, The Pretenders, and surprise guest Paul McCartney. With some of Hawkins’ favourite artists performing his favourite songs, the evening was both joyous and tear-jerking — so much so that I hesitated for days on end about where to begin this very article; what to say and how to capture the enormity of loss and love for the charismatic drummer that was, and always will be, Taylor Hawkins.

Just two months before Hawkins’ death, I was meant to see the Foo Fighters in concert at Boston Calling, a popular festival held at the premises of my very own alma mater. In fact, the concert was during the weekend of my undergraduate graduation, so all I would have had to do was change clothes and cross the street. I was especially excited for the concert considering that the Foos and I had evaded each other for years. The weekend they came to Boston in 2015, my mother had decided to book us bus tickets to New York City to celebrate my birthday. In 2018, their Boston concert coincided with my internship in Switzerland, and by 2020, well, you probably can guess what went wrong. After all the missed opportunities, 2022 was the year Swathi Srinivasan would finally see the Foo Fighters — a band she had stumbled upon in a music store as a twelve-year-old amateur rock enthusiast.

Yet, I never did get to see the Foos perform — at least not in their entirety. On March 25, 2022, Hawkins was found unresponsive in his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia. The Foo Fighters were meant to play Bogotá’s Estereo Picnic festival, part of their long-awaited return to the rock ‘n’ roll circuit following a COVID hiatus. While an official cause of death has not been released, an autopsy performed after his death confirmed the presence of various substances in his system, including opioids, benzodiazepines, antidepressants, and marijuana. Hawkins never made it to the show. While most of what occured in that hotel room in Bogota remains speculation, with various competing perspectives, discourse around how Hawkins died ought not to detract from the sheer enormity of the legacy he leaves behind.

The tribute concert itself was a testament to Hawkins’ far reach, beginning with the apt Oasis songs, ‘Rock n Roll Star’ and ‘Live Forever’, performed by Liam Gallagher, former lead singer of Oasis, as well as members of the Foos, with Grohl on drums (Grohl would play three instruments this evening, as well as sing). Other artists contributed some of Hawkins’ favourite songs to the set list, including Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, former bassist of Jane’s Addiction Chris Chaney, Bowie drummer Omar Hakim, and Chic founder Nile Rodgers, who covered Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’, later switching out Homme for Supergrass guitarist Gaz Coombes to perform Bowie’s ‘Modern Love’. Performances from Hawkins’ various musical projects such as Chevy Metal and The Coattail Riders (formerly Taylor Hawkins and the Coattail Riders) followed, supported by Ke$ha (you read that correctly) and Justin Hawkins, reminding the audience of Hawkins’ numerous artistic ventures, and his love for making music.

The evening continued with several performances of Hawkins’ favourite music. Van Halen and Jeff Buckley songs soon followed, performed by Wolfgang Van Halen, Josh Freese, and Justin Hawkins, as well as Violet Grohl (daughter of Dave Grohl). It was not lost on the audience that Buckley, too, was a music star lost too soon, a sentiment conveyed by Violet Grohl’s emotional rendition of Buckley’s ‘Last Goodbye’ and ‘Grace’, as well as her later cover of Amy Winehouse. As I teared up at the thought, I found myself viscerally aware of the strange energy in the air, particularly confusion over how I really ought to feel and behave at the event. It was a celebration of a life and legacy, but joy and excitement felt just out-of-bounds.

As I sat with these feelings, British fan-favourite Supergrass took the stage next, performing jams like ‘Alright’ and ‘Going Out’ for the energised audience. They were followed by English-American supergroup, Them Crooked Vultures, which reunited for the first time in twelve years, with Grohl and Zeppelin legend John Paul Jones performing Sir Elton John’s ‘Goodbye Yellow Brick Road’ and Queens of the Stone Age’s ‘Long Slow Goodbye’. Appearing in a video on the stage panel screens, Sir Elton John, who is currently on his ‘Farewell Yellow Brick Road’ tour, offered a virtual tribute to Hawkins. “Tonight is about remembering him and honouring him,” Sir Elton John said. “Don’t ever forget him.”

Up next came 2005 Hall of Fame inductees, The Pretenders, led by frontwoman Chrissie Hynde. In a much-welcomed divergence from the almost entirely male-dominated stage, their three-song set alongside Grohl elicited cheers from the audience, especially as photos of Hawkins and Hynde’s friendship flashed across the screens. Another Hawkins favourite followed The Pretenders, Cleveland-based (like me!) band, James Gang, who reunited for one night and one night only to perform at the tribute. Upon playing hit song ‘Funk #49’, as well as ‘The Bomber: Closet Queen/Bolero/Cast Your Fate To The Wind’, which indeed features a rock reimagining of Ravel’s orchestral piece, Boléro, it was clear that the vast majority were unfamiliar with the band. That said, a small part of the crowd was excited at having witnessed an endangered species — the reuniting of a band — an anomaly in the rock and roll world that had already happened twice that evening. It was after this moment that Violet Grohl, supported by Mark Ronson, Chris Chaney, and Jason Falkner, performed Amy Winehouse’s ‘Valerie’, for which the vastness of Wembley Stadium joined in song to honour yet another artist who had passed before their time.

At this point, the sun had not set and the strangeness of emotion in the air had not settled, though the audience was in for yet another surprise. After a video message from Billie Eilish, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich took the stage with AC/DC’s Brian Johnson and members of the Foos in what was an incredible collaboration for the world of rock. The middle-aged men around me lost all composure as two of the greatest hard rock singers collaborated for performances of AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ and ‘Let There Be Rock’. While the audience was no doubt aware that the two musicians would be making an appearance, per the lineup released in the weeks before the show, few could have anticipated a joint performance that would just about rock the stadium to its core. Juxtaposed with the solemn circumstance that brought the crowd together, I found myself among many who struggled with just how to react to the momentous performance from my favourite rock stars.

The tribute left no time for me to figure this out, as Ulrich and Johnson were soon replaced by The Police drummer, Stewart Copeland, who entered the stage to play ‘Next to You’ and ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic’ with the Foos. Canadian rock band Rush followed up next, playing a three-song set that included hit songs like ‘Working Man’ and ‘YYZ’. One of the most energetic moments of the evening followed next as Eurovision 2022 star Sam Ryder, Rufus Taylor of The Darkness, Luke Spiller of The Struts, and members of both the Foo Fighters and Queen performed legendary anthems ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘Somebody to Love’. As the crowd erupted in cheers after singing along, May performed a moving solo while atop a stool at the forefront of the stage, singing a heartbreaking rendition of Love of My Life. Fans reminisced the loss of Freddie Mercury and Taylor Hawkins, especially at a venue so historic to both bands. There was hardly a dry eye in the stadium.

It was at this moment that the Foo Fighters took the stage for their set, performing songs that referenced the difficult times, while also paying tribute to Hawkins and his glorious career and personhood. Grohl choked back tears at the first song of the set, ‘Times Like These’, as the crowd quieted, stifling sniffles and sobs. With Josh Freese on drums and attendees ready to bob their heads up and down in classic grunge fashion, Grohl continued with a re-energizing performance of ‘All My Life’. The crowd remained ecstatic for one of the Foos’ most popular songs, ‘The Pretender’, which saw Blink-182’s Travis Barker tap out Josh Freese for a high-energy performance that had the whole crowd on their feet. As much as I wanted to stand and scream and jump around to songs that had defined much of my high school years, I couldn’t. I was still hoping for Hawkins to arrive.

Drummers continued to cycle in and out of the Foo Fighters set, as twelve year-old Nandi Bushell took Barker’s place next. Having challenged Grohl to a drum-off a few years prior, Bushell remained close with the band and was invited to play the drums for a crowd-favourite known for its signature Hawkins drum prowess, ‘Learn to Fly’. Exceeding the task, Bushell left the stage in her bedazzled jacket as Rufus Taylor took the stage to perform ‘These Days’ and ‘Best of You’ with the Foos. As he drummed away, I caught notice of a tattoo on his upper-arm — a hawk.

In between songs, Grohl honoured his bandmate and best friend. He spoke fondly of Hawkins and his diverse taste, stating that Hawkins was a “musicologist” with an unparalleled knowledge of music and a knack for befriending musicians. Considering the scale and scope of the event, that was certainly clear. In a surprise to the audience, a close friend of Hawkins, The Pretenders’ Chrissie Hynde, introduced none other than Paul McCartney to the stage for what was the first live performance of ‘Oh! Darling’ in history. Though it was clear that McCartney no longer performed to the calibre of his glory days, the audience erupted at the very sight of a man who, similar to Hawkins, helped define an era of rock and roll.

McCartney played just one more song — ‘Helter Skelter’ — before leaving the Foos and Omar Hakim on stage for a performance of the Foo Fighters song, Aurora. “I think this song was Taylor’s favourite”, Grohl said, before beginning the song’s beautiful guitar intro. From the 1999 album, There Is Nothing Left to Lose, ‘Aurora’, like many songs that evening, brought tears to my eyes. Nearly three minutes longer than the studio version, the live performance of the song ended with a beautiful guitar-drum outro and an applause for Hakim’s final song of the evening. Hakim left the stage for the last time after having played six songs, the most of any drummer that evening.

As you no doubt may have already seen via viral TikToks, Instagram reels, and Facebook videos, the evening’s highlight came towards the end. In Hakim’s place came the ascent of Oliver Shane Hawkins (Shane) to the percussion throne. Playing his father’s drumset to the classic Foo Fighters song ‘My Hero’, Grohl grinned as Shane delivered an electrifying tribute to his father. With the hair of a 70s rocker and the humility of a sixteen-year-old whose exposure to fame was always by proxy of his father, Shane’s performance of such a fitting song left me in awe and amazement and sadness all at once.

Drenched in a puddle of my tears by this point, I, like many, thought that the performance would end here. The curfew had edged closer and closer, and the crowd, many of whom had been standing for the better part of the six-hour tribute, was somewhere between energised and exhausted, not to mention nostalgic, emotional, and a bit tipsy. But one song remained.

Strumming his guitar with nothing more than a spotlight on the blue-lit Wembley stage, Grohl thanked the Hawkins family before beginning an acoustic performance of ‘Everlong’. A portion of the audience clapped and sang along, as the rest of us quietly sobbed. It was during this last song that reality truly sunk in. Taylor Hawkins truly was never going to walk on that stage again, let alone in his signature muscle tee, with his big grin and long hair. The Foo Fighters would never really be the Foo Fighters again. Ever.

Yet, only for someone like Hawkins would entire bands reunite for the first time in decades. Only in his honour would AC/DC collaborate with Metallica, in the same evening that a member of the Beatles would sing a song that had never before been sung live. Only for him would more than 30 artists and 70,000 fans join together for beyond six hours, laughing and crying and singing and shouting at the very thought of Hawkins and his incredible legacy.

Grohl closed the performance with a bow alongside many of the night’s performers. “We love you, Taylor”, he said into the microphone, as crowds cheered loudly and moved towards the doors. Across the stadium, some, like me, stood for a moment to stare at the photo of Hawkins left on the three stage screens. Wiping away some final tears of the evening, I found myself with ‘My Hero’ stuck in my head. “There goes my hero”, I hummed to myself. “Watch him as he goes”.