Dave Grohl Wants You to “F--king Smile” Over This Foo Fighters Tribute to Taylor Hawkins

Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters gathered their friends and family, including Miley Cyrus and Dave Chappelle, Sept. 27 to pay tribute to the band's late drummer Taylor Hawkins.

By Amy Lamare Sep 28, 2022 9:50 PMTags
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For one night, Los Angeles' Kia Forum was the epicenter of rock 'n' roll as Dave Grohl gathered his friends to once more honor the late Taylor Hawkins in an epic six-hour long celebration.

On Sept. 27, Grohl took the stage to open the show, paying tribute to the California native, who was found dead in a Colombia hotel room in March. "This is the hometown s--t so you gotta make it loud and turn it up," the emotional rocker said, noting Hawkins' ability to "make you f--king smile and dance and laugh and sing."

"What we really wanted to do was to pay tribute to Taylor in a way that you could sort of spend some time in his musical mind," he added, "which could be a pretty terrifying place, actually."

So he gathered quite the lineup to honor Hawkins' legacy.

Joan Jett and Blink 182's Travis Barker performed rousing renditions of "Cherry Bomb" and "Bad Reputation," Miley Cyrus went note for note with Def Leppard's Joe Elliot on "Photograph" and Pink joined Queen's Brian May and Roger Taylor to front "Somebody to Love," a song Hawkins frequently performed at Foo Fighters' concerts.

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At the request of Hawkins' wife, Alison Hawkins, May sang an acoustic version of Freddie Mercury's "Love of My Life" and Alanis Morissette—Hawkins played for her band before he joined Foo Fighters—delivered one of the most emotionally powerful moments of the show with a passionate performance of "You Oughta Know."

 

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To close out the 53-song night, which comes 24 days after the band honored him in London, the Foo Fighters took the stage for a 12-song set featuring guest drummers, comedian Dave Chappelle and Hawkins' 16-year-old son Shane Hawkins.

"I have to say," Dave said, "this concert compared to the London concert, this f--king rocks harder." 

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