The shows will take place in September
Foo Fighters have announced a pair of tribute concerts in honor of their late drummer Taylor Hawkins. Hawkins, who sat behind the kit for Foo Fighters since 1997, passed away suddenly in March at the age of 50. The band canceled all upcoming tour dates and festival appearances indefinitely.
In September, Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear and Rami Jaffee will come together with the Hawkins family to celebrate the life, music and love of their husband, father, brother and bandmate with The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts.
The all-star rock and roll shows will take place September 3 at London’s Wembley Stadium and September 27 at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The lineups for each show will be announced shortly. Sign up to receive information on timings, ticketing links and on sale dates here.
The concerts come with the blessing of Taylor’s family, and his wife Alison released the following statement:
My deepest thanks and admiration go out to the global Foo Fighters community and Taylor’s fans far and wide for the outpouring of love each and every one of you have shown our beloved Taylor. Your kindness has been an invaluable comfort for my family and me during this time of unimaginable grief.
As Taylor’s wife, and on behalf of our children, I want to share how much you meant to him and how dedicated he was to “knocking your socks off” during every performance. Taylor was honored to be a part of the Foo Fighters and valued his dream role in the band every minute of his 25 years with them. We consider every band member and the extended Foo Fighters team our family.
Taylor’s endearing spirit and deep love of music will live on forever through the collaborations he so enjoyed having with other musicians and the catalog of songs he contributed to and created.
In celebration of his life, it is now up to all of us who loved him most to honor Taylor’s legacy and the music he gave us.
Thank you all again for your love and sympathy. Taylor loved all of you & we love you too.
With gratitude, Alison Hawkins
As one of the most respected and beloved figures in modern music, Taylor’s monolithic talent and magnetic personality endeared him to millions of fans, peers, friends and fellow musical legends the world over. Millions mourned his untimely passing on March 25, with passionate and sincere tributes coming from fans as well as musicians Taylor idolized. The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts will unite several of those artists, the Hawkins family and of course his Foo Fighters brothers in celebration of Taylor’s memory and his legacy as a global rock icon—his bandmates and his inspirations playing the songs that he fell in love with, and the ones he brought to life.
Following the departure of drummer William Goldsmith during the recording sessions for The Colour and the Shape, Hawkins official joined Foo Fighters in the spring of 1997. He made his studio debut on 1999’s There Is Nothing Left To Lose (Roswell/RCA). The album peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard 200. The lead single “Learn To Fly” became one of the band’s biggest songs. The platinum-selling LP won the GRAMMY® Award for Best Rock Album, garnering Foo Fighters their first career GRAMMY® win.
Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl would later refer to Hawkins as his “best friend and partner in crime” in his 2021 autobiography, The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music.
“During his stint as Alanis Morissette’s drummer, long before he became a Foo Fighter, we would bump into each other backstage at festivals all over the world, and our chemistry was so obvious that even Alanis herself once asked him, ‘What are you going to do when Dave asks you to be his drummer?’” Grohl wrote.
Foo Fighters released their tenth studio LP Medicine at Midnight last February. The album peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart. Last July, the band released Hail Satin – an EP of disco covers and live versions of Medicine at Midnight tracks.
With Foo Fighters, Hawkins garnered a total of 12 GRAMMY® Awards. In 2005, he was voted Best Rock Drummer in Rhythm Magazine. Last year, Hawkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Foo Fighters.
