Putting on two massive tribute concerts to late drummer Taylor Hawkins this month was undoubtedly quite the undertaking, but Foo Fighters did have a guide to help out.
As Queen drummer Roger Taylor tells Billboard, Foo members Dave Grohl and Pat Smear told him they used the 1992 Freddie Mercury tribute concert as a “model.”
“I was very heavily involved in [the ’92 show], so that was sort of the model they built these shows on,” Taylor says. “Which is nice because we’ve always been tight with the Foo Fighters. We just love that band, like family.”
The Mercury concert was held several months after the iconic vocalist passed away in November 1991 and featured performances from the likes of Elton John, David Bowie, Guns N’ Roses, U2, George Michael and Def Leppard.
The Foos shows were no less star-studded, featuring names like Paul McCartney, AC/DC‘s Brian Johnson and Joan Jett, plus members of Rush, Led Zeppelin, The Pretenders, The Police, The Cars, Def Leppard, Nirvana and Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Taylor and Queen’s Brian May also performed at both concerts, which were held in London and Los Angeles. The drummer tells Billboard that the shows had “different” energies, partially because the London one was livestreamed.
“The one in London was more of seamless show with a lot of little filmed sequence in-between and so many acts,” Taylor says. “[Los Angeles] was more like a real rock parade. It was an emphasis on hard, heavy rock, and just one act after another and a parade of drummers like you’ve never seen, all the best rock ‘n’ roll drummers in the world.”
He adds, “It was a fantastic night, just a wonderful night for my great friend Taylor.”
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