Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert’ on Paramount+, A Cathartic Act Of Remembrance For A Contemporary Rock Icon

On September 3rd, all seven-plus hours of The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert streamed live on Paramount+, and featured Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters performing with rock music luminaries including Paul McCartney, Liam Gallagher, Chrissie Hynde, Nile Rodgers, and members of Rush, Queen, The Police, and James Gang. Highlights from that epic night are included in this brief but powerful celebration of the Foo Fighters drummer, who died last March.

THE TAYLOR HAWKINS TRIBUTE CONCERT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: Jason Sudekis, who’s currently filming season three of Ted Lasso, returns to London’s Wembley Stadium, one of the hit show’s former shooting locations. “As a member of Foo Fighters,” Sudekis says, “Taylor Hawkins was a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer, a 15-time Grammy winner, and most importantly, a badass musician who went on to become one of rock ‘n’ roll’s greatest drummers. Taylor’s energy and spirit will live on through his music, his fans, his friends, and his family. ‘The Hawk’ will fly on forever.”

The Gist: Foo Fighters were in the midst of a South American tour when Hawkins died in Bogota, Colombia at the age of 50. The concert scheduled for that night became a vigil, the rest of the tour was soon canceled, and for a while it felt like the band itself wouldn’t survive the shock of losing the guy whose irrepressible energy in many ways defined the Foos. But grief is a process, and rock ‘n’ roll has the visceral power to heal. By June, two tribute concerts to Hawkins had been announced: one in Los Angeles, set for September 27th, and this one, which transformed Wembley into a wake for the fallen musician that was as poignant as it was raucous. The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert is a tightly edited abbreviation of the rangy, seven-hour celebration of Hawkins’ life and work that the event became, but it captures its spirit, and includes performances from many of the heaviest hitters who came out to pay – and play – their respects.

There’s a request line from beyond thing happening with the lineup, since so many of those performing were favorites of Hawkins as well as his friends. Legendary producer and guitarist Nile Rodgers, original David Bowie drummer Omar Hakim, and Queens of the Stone Age vocalist Josh Homme kick things off with a swaggering version of “Let’s Dance,” and after a brief introduction from Dave Grohl, who functions throughout as master of ceremonies, overqualified sideman, leader of his own band, and mourner-in-chief, Wolfgang Van Halen joins Darkness vocalist Justin Hawkins for Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher” with Grohl on bass. (Eddie Van Halen’s son dedicates the song to both Hawkins and his father, who died in 2020.) Grohl stays on bass for a terrific and strutting performance of “Brass in Pocket” by Chrissie Hynde – the Pretenders singers sounds just incredible – and then Brian Johnson from AC/DC arrives to rumble and growl through “Back in Black” with most of Foo Fighters in support. Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor also appear – the three drummer setup for “We Will Rock You” feels more than appropriate for this tribute – and Grohl, who’s really working overtime throughout the show, contributes a moody singalong version of “Times Like These” that provides the most cathartic moment of The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert when he breaks down halfway through the song, singing the rest through tears of pain and release.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Obviously a tribute like this is a singular event. But it’s well worth your time to seek out the documentary Count Me In on Netflix, where rock drummers like Taylor Hawkins, Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Police’s Stewart Copeland speak about their personal journeys with the craft of drumming. Hawkins also had a memorable turn in Jagged, the recent doc about Alanis Morrissette, for whom he drummed early in his career before making the leap to the Foos.

Our Take: In our age of social media, the passing of a celebrity has its own online life cycle. There’s shock, surprise, and snark in equal measure as the news spreads; there are thoughts and prayers; there are peer group testimonials; and then, usually, the whole conversation curdles into character assassination on one side and fan tributes on the other. This was largely not so with the untimely death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins. Always great for a quote, always transmitting a lanky surfer dude energy, and always grinning as maniacally as he attacked his instrument, Hawkins was, like Adam Yauch of Beastie Boys before him, that rare famous person whose passing inspired only glowing remembrances of the individual and musician he was. Dave Grohl is the most compelling representative of that remembrance in the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert – his emotions are displayed throughout with a rawness that’s as admirable as it is vulnerable as he continues to process his friend and bandmate’s death in real time. But what’s most poignant and powerful here is Grohl and the Foos performing a blistering version of “Hero” with Shane Hawkins, Taylor’s sixteen-year-old son, behind the kit.

Sex and Skin: See below for a note on the perpetually glorious jumpsuit game of Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins.

Parting Shot: After a tremulous, sure handed solo guitar performance of the Foo Fighters classic “Everlong,” in which he transforms the song’s natural tension and release into a kind of inward-looking hymn, Dave Grohl thanks the audience once again and is joined onstage for a final bow by the assorted rock royalty that were part of the Hawkins tribute.

Sleeper Star: The Darkness’s Justin Hawkins has always seemed to embody rock ‘n’ roll in its physical form, and he’s the valuable utility player of the tribute concert to Taylor Hawkins (no relation), absolutely killing it on vocals for a run through “Hot for Teacher” with Wolfgang Van Halen and Dave Grohl, dropping in to duet with Brian Johnson on “Back in Black,” and lending a Freddie Mercury-esque flair to “I’m in Love With My Car” alongside Brian May, Roger Taylor, and the Foos. Also: no one in contemporary rock music wears a silver lame jumpsuit slit to the waist better than Justin Hawkins.

Most Pilot-y Line: “I hope that you guys felt the love from all of us and all of the performers,” Dave Grohl says to the 70,000 gathered at Wembley, “because we felt it from you for Taylor tonight. So, thank you everybody.”

Our Call: STREAM IT. Full of grief, joy, cool collaborations and cathartic rock ‘n’ roll splendor, The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert is a worthy tribute to a Hall of Fame drummer and personality.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges