Fox Reviews Rock

Topics discussed in today’s review might be unsuitable for some audiences (suicide/mental health/overdose)

It’s hard to believe its been two years since we lost the incredible human that was Taylor Hawkins. This tribute concert was held for his memorial.

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We had tickets to go and see the Foo Fighters. The tour was canceled after the sad events surrounding Taylor Hawkins’s death. As there was only two dates for the tribute concert we felt our chances to attend would be slim. This was confirmed when we couldn’t get tickets on first release or resale on Ticketmaster.

Thankfully Rex was subscribed to the Foo Fighters mailing list. She heard about restricted view tickets becoming available just 3 days before the event. After quickly arranging pet sitters we jumped at the chance to get the tickets.

We made our way down the motorway. We parked at a tube station and got the underground straight to Wembley Stadium. St Jimmy had been there just weeks prior with his football team so knew exactly where to go. Bag searches were a little strict but being Europe’s second biggest stadium it’s not too surprising.

We laughed at the restricted view. In reality, it was a pole that covered a tiny fraction of the stage. Being sat far back meant it made little difference to our view. There were issues with the wind. It made it hard to hear until the sound engineer fixed the sound levels. Then the wind let up a bit helping the issue further. This seems an ongoing issue at Wembley maybe a roof would help?

Dave Grohl acting as commentator began proceedings speaking about Taylor and sharing memories of his and the band. He also mentioned his former band and the loss of Kurt Cobain. He said it never gets easier to lose someone close to you.

After the emotional speech was over, Liam Gallagher of Oasis performed “Rock n Roll Star”. He also performed “Live Forever”. The Foo Fighters played the instruments.

This was followed by the trio of Nile Rogers [Chic], Chris Chaney [Jane’s Addition] and Omar Hakim. They performed two David Bowie songs. Josh Homme [Queens Of The Stone Age] helped with “Let’s Dance”. Gaz Coombes [Supergrass] helped with “Modern Love”.

Sound levels at this point improved making the next few hours even more incredible.

Chevy Metal covered “Psycho Killer” originally by The Talking Head. Before one of the performances of the night Ke$ha covering T-Rex hit “Children Of The Revolution”. We thought her voice really suited the song and we was so impressed!

The night continued with more collaborations. Justin Hawkins [The Darkness], John Lousteu [Sound Engineer], and Taylor Hawkins’s band The Coattail Riders. They performed two songs Taylor did with the band and then “Range Rover B*tch” from his solo career. They were joined by new Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese (Although this wasn’t yet announced).

Dave Grohl joined Justin Hawkins, Josh Freese on stage. Also, Wolfgang Van Halen joined to play “On Fire” and “Hot For Teacher”. It was a great experience to hear Eddie Van Halen’s song play some of his father’s band’s greatest hits!

Continuing the family theme, Violet Grohl joined her father on stage. Alain Johannes, Chris Chaney, Greg Kurstin [The Bird And The Bee], and Jason Faulkner [The Jellyfish] also joined. They performed “Last Goodbye”. The emotion from Dave and the crowd during this performance was clear and widely felt.

One of Taylor’s favorite all-time bands was Supergrass. They played three of their own hits: “Richard III”, “Alright”, and “Caught By The Fuzz”. This was great because you felt like you was getting to know Taylor more and more as the day progressed.

Supergroup Them Crooked Vultures had some words to say about Taylor. This is another of Grohl’s bands and he did all the talking. Together they played Elton John hit “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, one of their own songs “Gunman”. As well as “Long Slow Goodbye” originally by Queens Of The Stone Age.

The Pretenders then joined Dave Grohl for another highlight worthy moment. Chrissie Hynde’s voice was incredible. They played “Tattooed Love Boys”, “Brass In Pocket” and “Precious”.

Next up was James Gang , doing three of their own hits “Walk Away”, “The Bomber” and “Funk # 49”. This was roughly the half way point. We did miss parts of their set as hunger and thirst levels kicked in. Thankfully we still heard their songs while inside the arena.

We returned to our seats to a cover of “Valerie” by originally by The Zutons. In this case, Violet Grohl brilliantly sang it. Assisting her was Mark Ronson, Chris Chaney, and Jason Faulkner.

Replacing them was AC/DC singer Brian Johnson , Metallica Drummer Lars Ulrich and the Foo Fighters. They played “Back In Black” as well as “Let There Be Rock”.

This was Brian’s first concert since he lost his hearing in 2016. He demanded that Justin Hawkins joined him on stage to execute “Back In Black”. We later found out that we was hesitant to do so. But Dave Grohl said “If Brian Johnson tells you to do something , you fu**ing do it”!

The Foo Fighters were joined by Stewart Copeland of The Police. They played 2 Police songs “Next To You” and “Everything Little Thing She Does Is Magic”. Gaz Coombes joined them on stage for the latter.

Rush legends Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson performed three of their own songs while the Foo Fighters took a break. “2122 Part 1 Overture”, “Working Man” and “YYZ”. The latter two songs having Grohl and Hakim on the drums respectively.

Queen band members Brian May and Rodger Taylor came on stage along with Roger’s son Rufus. Assisted by Foo Fighters they played an impressive 3 drummer experience of “We Will Rock You”. Before playing two more Queen songs. Sam Ryder UK’s Eurovision entry joined them to sing “Somebody To Love”. We have to say we agree that his voice was a perfect fit for this. The group had a few words for Taylor as well as emphasizing with the rest of the Foo Fighters. This was because the last time an event like this took place. It was in memory of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.

The Foo Fighters finished the day with 11 songs. Various different drummers joined them on stage. These included Josh Freese, Travis Barker [Blink182], Nandy Bushell [Friend of Dave], Rufus Taylor [The Darkness], and Omar Hakim. They performed “Monkey Wrench”, “All My Life” and “Best Of You” as well as many others. Dave got incredibly emotional performing “Times Like These” as we think this is when it hit home the hardest.

Legendary Beatles bassist Paul McCartney joined the band for “Oh! Darling” alongside Chrissie Hynde and Omar Hakim. This was followed by “Helter Skelter”. It was at this point emotions were getting really high. Taylor’s son Oliver Shane Hawkins played “My Hero”. We think the whole arena shed at least one tear at this point.

Dave Grohl closed the night by performing a solo version of “Everlong.” All the day’s performers joined him onstage to bow. A photo of Taylor above them. It was a heart-wrenching performance and finale to an already emotional day.

We feel so lucky to have been at the event. Maybe seeing some of the last performances of some amazing bands, even though it was for a tragic reason.

The whole event was live streamed. It is still available to watch. We highly recommend you check it out here. Be aware it is an almost 6 hour video!

St. Jimmy and Rex 🖤☠️

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