AC/DC frontman Brian Johnson has said that he is “honoured” to be a part of the upcoming Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in London.
Hawkins, who had served as Foo Fighters‘ drummer since 1997, died in Bogotá, Colombia on March 25. He was 50 years old.
This Saturday (September 3), the surviving members of the Foos are set to host the first of two special shows in honour of their late bandmate. The star-studded event – featuring the likes of Liam Gallagher, Josh Homme and Nile Rodgers – will take place at Wembley Stadium in London.
Johnson joined the line-up last month along with Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich, Blink-182‘s Travis Barker, Dave Grohl‘s daughter Violet and more.
The AC/DC singer has now issued a statement about his involvement in the Hawkins tribute concert (via Blabbermouth).
“Okay here we go. Taylor was a lovely man, his smile was legend, his drumming intense and brilliant, and he could sing as well,” Johnson wrote.
“When we gather to salute this man and his family, we do it as friends, we do it for him, and we do it with his band the Foo Fighters, who I know will do him proud. I’m honoured to be part of it.”
Back in May 2021, Foo Fighters and Brian Johnson performed a collaborative rendition of AC/DC’s classic single ‘Back In Black’ at Global Citizen’s Vax Live event in California.
Grohl and Johnson had previously appeared together in a documentary called Brian Johnson Meets Dave Grohl, in which the pair “share[d] stories about life on the road”.
The second Taylor Hawkins tribute concert will be held at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles on September 27. The forthcoming gigs will benefit the charities Music Support and MusiCares, as chosen by Hawkins’ family.
It was also recently announced that both events will be live-streamed globally on the Paramount streaming service in the United States, and via MTV’s YouTube channel worldwide. Find more information here, and see the full line-ups above.
A statement about the shows on Foo Fighters’ official website reads: “As one of the most respected and beloved figures in modern music, Taylor’s monolithic talent and magnetic personality endeared him to millions of fans, peers, friends and fellow musical legends the world over. Millions mourned his untimely passing on March 25, with passionate and sincere tributes coming from fans as well as musicians Taylor idolised.
“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.”
The final run of tickets for the London edition were released yesterday (August 31).
Meanwhile, Red Hot Chili Peppers dedicated their Global Icon award to Taylor Hawkins at the MTV VMAs 2022 last Sunday (August 28).
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