A massive tribute concert for the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins took over London’s Wembley Stadium at the weekend and featured a rotating door of special guests who came to celebrate his life. There was none more special than Hawkins’ son Shane Hawkins sitting behind his dad’s kit to blast out a track that made my heart piss tears.
The 16-year-old spit of his father jumped up behind the skins towards the end of the evening and slammed out the Foos classic “My Hero” with his dad’s bandmates.
“Now, ladies and gentlemen, we have one more drummer that’s gonna come up and play with us,” Dave Grohl said as he introduced Shane.
“Uh, let me tell you. I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone 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. I think it makes sense he’s gonna come up and play with us tonight.”
You know what? That kid can fucking play. The apple sure doesn’t fall far from the tree in the Hawkins family, does it? Shane — just like his dad — absolutely beats the shit out of that kit as if it owes him money.
That mop of hair, the gritting of the teeth and the phenomenal hand-eye coordination — there is no doubt in my mind that he’s the sprog of Taylor Hawkins.
It’s not the first time Hawkins Jr performed the gut-punching Foo Fighters track live since his father’s passing. He previously did a guest spot with young Cali surf punk band The Alive on top of a garage on July 4.
Bit of a difference playing to 100 people at a potluck and 90,000 punters at a packed-out stadium but I love that he played it with the same energy regardless.
The Foo Fighters tribute concert also played host to a bunch of other big name artists like Mark Ronson, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, Kesha, Queen’s Brian May, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones (for a Them Crooked Vultures reunion) and Dave’s daughter Violet Grohl.
