Foo Fighters & Friends Present Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert At Wembley Stadium

Foo Fighters curated and headlined an all-star Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert on Saturday at London’s Wembley Stadium in honor of their late drummer, who tragically died at age 50 on March 25. Paul McCartney, Liam Gallagher, Them Crooked Vultures, Chrissie Hynde and Taylor’s son, Shane Hawkins were among those who participated in the marathon, six-hour show filled with memorable moments.

The show began at 4:30 p.m. local time with Taylor Hawkins’ Foo Fighters bandmates standing shoulder to shoulder on the stage. Frontman Dave Grohl spoke for the group. “Tonight, we’ve gathered here to celebrate the life, the music, and the love of our dear friend, our bandmate, our brother Taylor Hawkins,” Grohl said. “For those of you who knew him personally, you knew that nobody else could make you smile or laugh or dance or sing like he could. For those of you who admired him from afar, I’m sure you’ve all felt the same thing.” Dave went on to state Foo Fighters were to present “a gigantic fucking night for a gigantic fucking person” filled with performances from “his musical heroes and greatest inspirations.” He ended by alerting fans “It’s going to be a long fucking night.”

Liam Gallagher kicked off the musical festivities backed by Foo Fighters on Oasis classics “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and “Live Forever.” Next, an ensemble featuring Nile Rodgers, Chris Chaney and Omar Hakim performed David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” and “Modern Love” with Josh Homme leading the former and Gaz Coombes fronting the latter.

Taylor’s two side projects took the stage next as Chevy Metal played “Psycho Killer” by Talking Heads and brought out Kesha for T. Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution.” Then, The Coattail Riders were accompanied by Justin Hawkins and Josh Freese for originals “Louise,” “Range Rover Bitch” and “It’s Over.”

The next portion of the 50-song concert saw Grohl team with Josh Freese, Wolfgang Van Halen and Justin Hawkins for Van Halen’s “On Fire” and “Hot For Teacher.” From there, Dave’s daughter, Violet Grohl fronted Dave Grohl, Alain Johannes, Chris Chaney, Greg Kurstin and Jason Falkner on Jeff Buckley classics “Last Goodbye” and “Grace” before Supergrass presented “Richard III,” “Alright” and “Caught By The Fuzz.”

One of the first and biggest surprises of the night followed as Them Crooked Vultures reunited for their first performance in 12 years. The supergroup featuring Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Dave Grohl and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones were augmented by Alain Johannes on “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Gunman” and “Long Slow Goodbye.”

The parade of legendary rock bands continued with Pretenders playing three beloved songs and Joe Walsh reuniting James Gang for the first time in 16 years. Grohl joined James Gang on their “Funk 49” finale. Next, Violet Grohl returned to sing the Amy Winehouse-popularized “Valerie” before Foo Fighters backed AC/DC’s Brian Johnson on versions of “Back In Black” and “Let There Be Rock.” Lars Ulrich was behind the kit for each with Justin Hawkins also contributing to “Back In Black.” From there, Stewart Copeland hopped on drums with Foo Fighters to perform The Police gems “Next To You” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”

Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson took the Wembley stage next with Dave Grohl for “2112 Part I: Overture” and “Working Man.” Then Omar Hakim replaced Grohl on drums for “YYZ.”

Taylor Hawkins’ first concert attended was Queen, so fittingly Brian May and Roger Taylor led Foo Fighters through a five-song set featuring some of the band’s most beloved tunes as the penultimate performance of the evening. Roger’s son, Rufus Taylor was also aboard for “We Will Rock You,” “I’m In Love With My Car,” “Under Pressure” and “Somebody To Love.” Luke Spiller joined on “We Will Rock You,” Justin Hawkins added to “Under Pressure” and Sam Ryder starred on “Somebody To Love.” Brian May closed the set with a solo acoustic “Love Of My Life.”

Foo Fighters ended the concert with a powerful set that saw them joined by an array of drummers. First up was an emotional “Times Like These” in which Dave Grohl teared up and had to stop at points. Josh Freese was behind the kit for “Times Like These” and “All My Life” before Travis Barker played drums on “The Pretender” and “Monkey Wrench.” Next, child prodigy Nandi Bushell took over the drum seat for “Learn To Fly” ahead of Rufus Taylor swapping in on “These Days” and “Best Of You.”

Another huge surprise came next as surprise guest Paul McCartney dueted on “Oh! Darling” with Chrissie Hynde. Last night was the first time Macca played the Beatles classic since the Fab Four recorded the song in 1969. McCartney stuck around for “Helter Skelter.” Then, Omar Hakim hopped behind the kit for “Aurora,” one of Taylor Hawkins’ favorite Foo Fighters songs. There was nary a dry eye in the house during the “My Hero” that ensued featuring Shane Hawkins admirably tearing through the song on drums. Dave Grohl then went solo to end the night with “Everlong.”

The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert can be viewed below or on-demand via Paramount+. A second tribute is set for Kia Forum in Los Angeles on September 27.