On Saturday night (September 3), some of the biggest names in music joined the Foo Fighters in celebrating the life of their late drummer Taylor Hawkins, who died unexpectedly in March at the age of 50.
Dave Grohl emceed the six-hour-long event, which he began with an emotional speech. “Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we’ve gathered here to celebrate the life, the music, and the love of our dear friend, our bandmate, our brother, Taylor Hawkins,” he said. “For those of you who knew him personally, you know that no one else could make you smile, or laugh, or dance, or sing like he could," he continued.
"And for those of you who admired him from afar, I’m sure you’ve all felt the same thing so, tonight, we’ve gathered with family and his closest friends, his musical heroes and greatest inspirations to bring you a gigantic f-cking night for a gigantic f-cking person," Grohl added “So sing and dance and laugh and cry and f-cking scream and make some f-cking noise so he can hear us right now. Cos you know what, it’s gonna be a long f-cking night, right?”
That night ended with a powerful set by the Foos. They kicked things off with an emotional performance of "Times Like These," which saw Grohl fighting back tears while a packed Wembley Stadium sang along with him.
Watch fan-shot footage of the emotional performance above.
The London tribute was the first of two. The second is set to go down in Los Angeles on September 27.