Dave Grohl Opens Taylor Hawkins Tribute Show With Emotional Speech

The Taylor Hawkins tribute concert is currently underway at London’s Wembley Stadium. Dave Grohl kicked off the big night on Saturday (September 3) with an emotional speech dedicated to the late drummer alongside his Foo Fighters bandmates.

“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we’ve gathered here to celebrate the life, the music, and the love of our dear friend, our bandmate, our brother, Taylor Hawkins,” said Grohl to the crowd who had previously been chanting the drummer's name per NME. “For those of you who knew him personally, you know that no one else could make you smile, or laugh, or dance, or sing like he could," he continued.

"And for those of you who admired him from afar, I’m sure you’ve all felt the same thing so, tonight, we’ve gathered with family and his closest friends, his musical heroes and greatest inspirations to bring you a gigantic f-cking night for a gigantic f-cking person." Grohl concluded with, “So sing and dance and laugh and cry and f-cking scream and make some f-cking noise so he can hear us right now. Cos you know what, it’s gonna be a long f-cking night, right?”

The tribute concert will include appearances from Liam Gallagher, Mark Ronson, Queens Of The Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Supergrass, Queen’s Brian May and Roger Taylor, Blink-182’s Travis Barker, AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, Kesha, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich, and more. The show can be streamed live on Paramount+ and will also be available on CBS, Pluto TV, and MTV's YouTube channel.

Watch a clip of the speech posted by a fan below: