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Two issues appeared assured when the nice and the nice of the rock world gathered at London’s Wembley Stadium to pay tribute to the late Foo Fighters drummer, Taylor Hawkins:
One, it could be emotional. And two, there could be drums.
The primary Taylor Hawkins Tribute Live performance (the second is in Los Angeles later this month) didn’t take lengthy to ship on both depend.
At 4.30 p.m. sharp, the Foo Fighters emerged and, as Dave Grohl stepped as much as communicate, the gang gave him an enormous ovation. As he bowed his head, the applause grew. As he regarded to the heavens, a chant of “Taylor! Taylor!” broke out till, ultimately, he gathered himself sufficiently to vow “a huge fucking evening for a huge fucking individual.”
It definitely began large. Liam Gallagher swaggered out and – backed by the Foos, with Grohl pounding the drums more durable than any Oasis drummer ever did – delivered the heaviest, most menacing variations of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Star” and “Reside Without end” ever heard.
In that opening tackle, Grohl famous that “nobody may make you smile or chuckle or dance or sing like Taylor may.” Even now he’s gone, it was clear Hawkins retained that knack, with a cavalcade of stars stepping out of their ordinary roles to pay homage to the drummer and his heroes.
To salute Hawkins’ beloved David Bowie, Nile Rodgers teamed up with Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age (on “Let’s Dance”) and Gaz Coombes from Supergrass (on “Fashionable Love”). And Hawkins’ aspect tasks, Chevy Metallic and the Coattail Riders, known as on visitor vocalists Ke$ha and Justin Hawkins (no relation) from The Darkness.
Grohl himself was in all places. He performed bass as Justin Hawkins and Wolfgang Van Halen ripped by Van Halen’s “Sizzling for Trainer.” He drummed as his daughter Violet sang a few numbers by Taylor’s favourite singer, Jeff Buckley. And he was additionally behind Homme and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones as Them Crooked Vultures stomped by Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Highway,” after Elton himself had popped up on the large display screen (which means Homme was Bowie, Elton and himself inside a single evening — a hell of a karaoke session).
“I hope you wore comfy footwear,” quipped Grohl as proceedings reached the midway level. “As a result of we’re not even shut” to ending. Inevitably, with such a protracted present, there have been lulls, particularly with the largely white, male line-up making few forays past the classic-rock canon.
However at its finest, this present may make your coronary heart do the one factor Taylor Hawkins by no means did: skip a beat. And so, as nightfall fell after speedy units by Supergrass and the Pretenders, the power rose.
First, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich joined the Foo Fighters in backing Brian Johnson on a romp by AC/DC’s “Again in Black” and “Let There Be Rock” that was so joyous even Grohl famous it was worthy of ending the present.
There was time for the Police’s Stewart Copeland to offer his personal drumming masterclass on a Foos-assisted “Each Little Factor She Does Is Magic” earlier than Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson performed on stage collectively once more to pay tribute to Hawkins and their “personal fallen brother,” Neil Peart (Grohl himself performed the drums, emulating a well-known former Hawkins visitor spot).
Given their prolonged historical past, Queen’s efficiency was much less of a revelation, however Brian Might and Roger Taylor additionally clearly tapped into their very own emotions of loss over Freddie Mercury, who had his personal tribute live performance on this stadium simply over 30 years in the past. Luke Spiller from the Struts and Justin Hawkins each had a go at channelling their inside Freddie, however Eurovision star Sam Ryder was the shock package deal, his all-in efficiency of “Any individual to Love” rendering Wembley virtually as ecstatic as throughout a few of Queen’s earlier triumphs.
However for as soon as, Freddie’s boots could not have been the toughest ones to fill. As a result of, whereas there may solely ever be one band to shut proceedings tonight, this was by no means going to be a typical Foo Fighters present.
It started with “Instances Like These.” Already heavy with which means after it discovered new resonance throughout the pandemic, no marvel Grohl’s voice cracked on the elegiac, virtually a cappella intro. However the crowd stepped in to assist him out and, from there on in, Grohl and everybody else celebrated catharsis of their most vibrant songs.
But filling Hawkins’ footwear was an excessive amount of for anybody individual, so drummers from Travis Barker (“Monkey Wrench”) to Roger Taylor’s son Rufus (“These Days”) to Nandi Bushell, the 12-year-old lady who famously challenged Grohl to a drum-off (“Be taught to Fly”), crammed the seat at numerous factors — and most impressively of all, Taylor’s 16-year-old son Shane Hawkins put in an extremely gutsy efficiency on “My Hero.”
“If you happen to knew what number of drum kits are again there…” smiled Grohl, wistfully, at one level. “You’ve received to rejoice the drummers, proper?”
Certainly — though the friends out entrance had been fairly first rate too. Chrissie Hynde and none apart from Sir Paul McCartney joined the band for a reside rendition of The Beatles’ “Oh! Darling,” then Macca stayed on for a tumultuous “Helter Skelter”.
“We felt all of the love from you for Taylor tonight,” mentioned Grohl, as he thanked the Hawkins household on the finish of the evening. “I don’t actually know what else to say.”
Fortuitously, he knew precisely what to play. “Everlong” was a reassuringly acquainted option to finish a protracted evening, but it surely – and the colossal crowd singalong it sparked – has certainly by no means sounded so poignant.
It was a send-off match for rock royalty — and on an emotional, drum-filled evening, it was good to know that his beat goes on.
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