On September 3, 2022, Foo Fighters returned to a stage at Wembley Stadium for a concert honoring Taylor Hawkins. Taylor Hawkins had died that March, and the musicians gathered in London had come to celebrate a friend whose energy behind the drums was part of the band’s identity.
Throughout the concert, different drummers played alongside Foo Fighters. Each brought a personal connection to Taylor Hawkins or to the music Taylor Hawkins loved. Near the end of the night, Dave Grohl introduced a drummer with a connection no one else could share: Taylor Hawkins’ 16-year-old son, Shane Hawkins.
A familiar song, heard differently
Shane Hawkins took a seat behind the drum kit as Dave Grohl and the rest of Foo Fighters prepared to play “My Hero.” The song was already a familiar part of the band’s catalog. Foo Fighters had recorded “My Hero” years before this concert; the song was not written about Taylor Hawkins. But at a tribute to Taylor Hawkins, its title carried a meaning that many people in the stadium could feel.
Then Shane Hawkins began to play.
The performance was loud and full of motion. Shane Hawkins drove the song forward while Taylor Hawkins’ bandmates played around the young drummer. For the audience, the moment brought together two things that had shaped the evening: the sound of Foo Fighters and the family at the center of the loss.
There was no need to imagine what Shane Hawkins was thinking behind the drums. The performance itself was there for everyone to see. Shane Hawkins played the entire song with force and focus, sharing the stage with musicians who had spent years working beside Taylor Hawkins.
The musicians who came to remember Taylor Hawkins
The Wembley concert brought together artists from across rock music, including people whose work had influenced Taylor Hawkins. Performances, stories and tributes filled the day. Foo Fighters also played with several guest drummers, allowing the band’s songs to sound again in a setting devoted to remembering the person who had helped bring those songs to life onstage.
That made Shane Hawkins’ appearance especially moving. Shane Hawkins was not there to take Taylor Hawkins’ place. No musician could do that. Shane Hawkins was there for one song, playing with Taylor Hawkins’ friends in front of a crowd that had come to honor Taylor Hawkins.
Dave Grohl introduced Shane Hawkins before “My Hero,” and the band let the music carry the rest of the moment. As the song unfolded, the audience could watch a son play beside the people who had known his father as a bandmate.
What stayed with the crowd
Tribute concerts often ask musicians to express a great deal in a short time. A speech can share a memory. A song can bring thousands of people into that memory at once.
At Wembley, Shane Hawkins and Foo Fighters did something simple and difficult: they played together. “My Hero” had belonged to the band’s history long before September 2022. On that night, the performance also became part of the story of how Foo Fighters, Taylor Hawkins’ family and the audience remembered Taylor Hawkins.
When the song ended, Shane Hawkins had given the crowd a moment that was entirely Shane Hawkins’ own. For a few minutes, Taylor Hawkins’ son and Taylor Hawkins’ bandmates had made music together.