At the Taylor Hawkins tribute Foo Fighters performed “My Hero” with late drummer Taylor Hawkins‘ son Shane from the first of two tribute concerts last weekend. The 16-year-old got behind the drums for the 1997 hit, which he previously performed in tribute to his late father in July, with the band at Wembley Stadium over the weekend. Following a performance of Hawkins’ favourite song of the band’s “Aurora” with David Bowie‘s drummer Omar Hakim, Grohl announced: “Now, we’ve got the little guy. Let me tell you, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone hit the drums as hard as this person. But beyond that, he’s a member of our family and he needs to be here tonight with all of us and I think it makes sense that he’s going to come up and play with us tonight.”
A photo of Shane and his dad was shown on the big screen as the young drummer kicked off the performance of the 1997 single. Grohl cheered him on as Shane finished the song with an immense solo. Stewart Copeland has said that he “started crying” when he saw Shane drum “My Hero”. He told CBS “It is very emotional to be here and perhaps the most emotional moment of this whole thing, because we’re all staying in one big hotel together and laughing it up, talking about Taylor and enjoying the brief time he was with us, all too brief. But the most emotional moment for me was at sound check a couple of days ago here and to see young Shane Hawkins on the drums. I started crying. He’s got it. He’s got such power, enthusiasm. He’s got his father’s stance, musical language. That was really emotional to see young Shane up there.” You can view Shane’s performance of “My Hero” below.
At its opening on Saturday September 3, the event frontman Dave Grohl promised it would be “a gigantic fucking night for a gigantic fucking person” spanning almost six hours with a set list of 50 songs. This was Foo Fighters first performance since Hawkins’ untimely death back in March. Liam Gallagher kicked off the night performing two classic Oasis songs with members of Foo Fighters, while Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Chad Smith shared a touching video story. Later, Grohl’s daughter, Violet, took to the stage to perform some Jeff Buckley covers, accompanied by her father, Queens Of The Stone Age and Them Crooked Vultures’ Alain Johannes and Jane’s Addiction‘s Chris Chaney.
Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich and AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson joined forces on a pair of AC/DC covers, while Mark Ronson and Violet Grohl covered “Valerie”. Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor then joined Foo Fighters for a five-song set, while The Eagles‘ Joe Walsh led a reunited James Gang in their first live performance in 16 years. Calling them the “one band that I always associated Taylor Hawkins with” Grohl joined the surviving members of Rush, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, on stage to perform some of the band’s biggest hits. The final set of the night featured Paul McCartney, Travis Barker, Nandi Bushell, Rufus Taylor (son of Roger Taylor), Josh Freese and Devo joining the Foo Fighters on stage for “Times Like These”, “All My Life”, “The Pretender”, “Monkey Wrench”, “Learn To Fly”, “These Days”, “Best Of You”, “Aurora”, “My Hero” and “Everlong” . Hawkins died aged 50 back in March of this year and was most known as the drummer with Foo Fighters, a second tribute show will take place at Los Angeles’ Kia Forum on September 27.
