Six months after the death of Taylor Hawkins, the Foo Fighters drummer’s bandmates, friends, family, and idols gathered at The Kia Forum in Inglewood, CA to send the rock n’ roll warrior off into eternity. The six-hour ceremony served as the second of two tribute concerts, coming three weeks after a star-studded, 50-song blowout at Wembley Stadium in London.
Tuesday’s sold-out performance would prove another six-hour affair, just like its predecessor. Unlike in London, however, the 53-song show didn’t begin until 7 p.m. when Violet Grohl opened the evening with a somber rendition of Leonard Cohen‘s “Hallelujah”. Afterward, her father Dave Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters took the stage where they would remain off and on until the wee hours of the morning.
Violet Grohl – “Hallelujah” (Leonard Cohen) – 9/27/22
[Video: Steve P]
“What we really wanted to do was pay tribute to Taylor in a way that you could sort of spend some time in his musical mind, which could be a pretty terrifying place,” Grohl joked. “But just as the show in London, we’ve all gathered here to celebrate this person that has touched our lives, whether from afar or for all of his friends and family and loved ones and musician buddies and heroes that are here tonight.”
While the setlists and personnel varied to some degree, all of the thematic elements from the Wembley show carried over to The Forum. The rising class of musicians was once again highlighted by the aforementioned appearance from Violet Grohl, as well as the incendiary drumming of Taylor’s son Shane Hawkins, who would prove an emotional focal point of the Foo’s headlining set.
Tuesday’s show had some other audibles, including doubling down on pop stars beginning with Kesha (who was also in London) who joined Hawkins’ cover band Chevy Metal on David Bowie‘s “Heroes”. Dressed in a garishly revealing sparkling outfit, the singer at one point suffered a wardrobe malfunction which she noted, “Taylor would’ve loved.”
Chevy Metal, Kesha – “Heroes” (David Bowie) – 9/27/22
[Video: llonelywallflower]
Another mainstream intrusion came later in the evening as Miley Cyrus joined Def Leppard, Foo Fighters, and drummer Patrick Wilson (Weezer) for a take on “Photograph”. While some of these stylistic cross-pollinations were more successful than others, last night’s Taylor Hawkins tribute show featured women more prominently with additional performances by Joan Jett, P!nk (who assisted Brian May, Roger Taylor, and Foo Fighters on Queen’s “Somebody To Love”) and Alanis Morissette.
Def Leppard, Miley Cyrus, Foo Fighters, Patrick Wilson – “Photograph” – 9/27/22
[Video: John Loughney]
Joan Jett, Foo Fighters – “Cherry Bomb” – 9/27/22
[Video: daveaus99]
Alanis Morissette, Foo Fighters, Chad Smith – “You Oughta Know” – 9/27/22
[Video: Paul Lui]
The Jagged Little Pill singer-songwriter helped complete the narrative of Hawkins’ artistic evolution formed throughout the concert. Starting with Hawkins’ knock-around cover band Chevy Metal, audiences saw the scope of the drummer’s artistic endeavors, followed next but his side project Coattail Riders, touching on his brief time as Morrissette’s touring drummer, and ending with the band he left Alanis for: Foo Fighters.
The Forum Taylor Hawkins tribute concert also featured some repeat reunions from the first, with Them Crooked Vultures reconnecting once again to perform Elton John‘s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “Dead End Friends”, and Queen of the Stone Age‘s “Long Slow Goodbye”, just as they did in London. Other repeats from Wembley included an appearance from James Gang as well as Rush members Alex Lifeson and Geddy Lee who cycled through Grohl, Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Danny Carey (Tool) during their three-song appearance.
Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, Dave Grohl – “Working Man” – 9/27/22
[Video: Brian James]
Alex Lifeson, Geddy Lee, Danny Carey – “YYZ” – 9/27/22
[Video: Brian James]
Another new classic rock wrinkle that oddly came at the L.A. show rather than in London was the appearance of bassist Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath). The heavy metal forefather joined with Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Lars Ulrich (Metallica), and Foo Fighters for a pair of Sabbath tunes, “Supernaut” and “Paranoid”.
Sebastian Bach, Geezer Butler, Lars Ulrich, Foo Fighters – “Supernaut” – 9/27/22
[Video: Brian James]
Sebastian Bach, Geezer Butler, Lars Ulrich, Foo Fighters – “Paranoid” – 9/27/22
[Video: Steve P]
What was also new to the Forum show was the Seattle portion of the evening which saw the surviving members of both Nirvana and Soundgarden come together as one. Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear took the stage with Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron as Taylor Momsem (The Pretty Reckless) led the ensemble through Soundgarden’s “The Day I Tried to Live” and “Black Hole Sun”.
Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, Pat Smear, Kim Thayil, Matt Cameron, Taylor Momsem – “Black Hole Sun” – 9/27/22
[Video: Matheus Gonçalves]
Tuesday’s show also featured more tributes to fellow fallen rock icons, including Wolfgang Van Halen paying homage to his father Eddie with a cover of “Panama”, which the Mammoth WVH bandleader famously said he would never play, with the former Van Halen bassist wryly acknowledging his reneging in a tweet. To that end, the tribute concert featured a healthy dose of the classic hair metal that Hawkins loved so, including Van Halen, Def Leppard, and Mötley Crüe.
Wolfgang Van Halen, Justin Hawkins, Josh Freese, Dave Grohl – “Panama” – 9/27/22
[Video: Brian James]
The main event came just after midnight as Foo Fighters delivered an 11-song set. The group was backed by a rotating stable of drummers including Shane Hawkins, Travis Barker, Josh Freese, Brad Wilk, Rufus Taylor, Matt Cameron, and finally Chad Smith. Featured in the setlist was the live rarity “Low”, which Grohl said was one of Hawkins’ favorite songs. An unsurprising surprise came with the appearance of comedian Dave Chappelle, who once again joined Foo Fighters on a cover of Radiohead‘s “Creep”, which he has been known to do on multiple occasions. What was unexpected, however, was the normally stoic comedian coming to tears at the end as he walked offstage. Grohl watched, saying, “Bet you didn’t see that one coming.”
Foo Fighters, Matt Cameron – “Low” – 9/27/22
[Video: Matt P]
Foo Fighters, Patrick Wilson, Dave Chappelle – “Creep” (Radiohead) – 9/27/22
[Video: lucid]
Shane Hawkins’ appearance on “My Hero” and “I’ll Stick Around” was the penultimate emotional peak of the evening, just as it had been at Wembley. The show once again closed with “Everlong”, only this time instead of Grohl performing the song solo to close the evening with a whisper, Foo Fighters raged the song with Chad Smith—along with 17,500 fans—to finish out the marathon evening on a roar that could be heard from the heavens.
Foo Fighters, Shane Hawkins – “My Hero”, “I’ll Stick Around” – 9/27/22
[Video: lucid]
Foo Fighters, Chad Smith – “Everlong” – 9/27/22
[Video: lucid]