The Foo Fighters are to celebrate Taylor Hawkins’s “monolithic talent” with two tribute concerts.
The drummer died at the age of 50 in March while on tour in Bogotá, Colombia.
On Wednesday, band members Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, and Rami Jaffee announced that they will stage concerts in Taylor’s memory at Wembley Stadium in London on 3 September and at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles on 27 September.
“The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concerts will unite several of those artists, the Hawkins family and, of course, his Foo Fighters brothers in celebration of Taylor’s memory and his legacy as a global rock icon – his bandmates and his inspirations playing the songs that he fell in love with, and the ones he brought to life,” they said in a note posted on their website.
The line-ups for each show will be announced shortly.
Following the news, Taylor’s wife Alison issued a statement on social media in which she thanked fans from around the world for their support.
“Your kindness has been an invaluable comfort for my family and me during this time of unimaginable grief,” she commented. “As Taylor’s wife, and on behalf of our children, I want to share how much you meant to him and how dedicated he was to ‘knocking your socks off’ during every performance. Taylor was honoured to be a part of the Foo Fighters and valued his dream role in the band every minute of his 25 years with them. We consider every band member and the extended Foo Fighters team our family.
“Taylor’s endearing spirit and deep love of music will live on forever through the collaborations he so enjoyed having with other musicians and the catalogue of songs he contributed to and created.”