Dave Grohl pays emotional tribute to “hometown hero” Taylor Hawkins during Ohana set
Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl paid a candid tribute to the band’s late drummer, Taylor Hawkins, during their headline performance at the Ohana Festival at the weekend. Given the festival’s close proximity to where Hawkins grew up, Grohl labelled him the “hometown hero” of the show.
Ohana Festival is held annually at Southern California’s Dana Point. It is seven miles from Laguna Beach, where Taylor Hawkins was raised after moving there with his family from Texas as a child. The drummer passed away in March 2022 after being found dead in his hotel room in Bogota, Columbia.
During the Ohana performance, Grohl dedicated the song ‘Aurora’ from 1999’s There Is Nothing Left to Lose to Hawkins, something he has done regularly. However, this tribute was more significant as it took place in the drummer’s “backyard”.
“He is, indeed, the hometown hero of this show, everybody fucking give it up for Taylor Hawkins right now,” Grohl told the audience. “It’s a trip. I came down here with him every once in a while (and) hung out at the house he grew up in. Hung out with his mom, hung out with his dad. Hung out with his brother and sister.”
Discussing how Laguna Beach defined Hawkins’ character, Grohl said: “It was weird because I never really understood Taylor Hawkins until I fucking came to Laguna. And then I was like ‘Oh, yeah, OK, I get it. That’s who you are!'”
The Foo Fighters leader continued: “We had good times down here, so I knew that tonight would be kind of heavy because we are here where Taylor grew up, but I want this next song to be a celebration of his life, all right?”
Grohl concluded: “This is the first song that we wrote together and we’ll play it every night for the rest of our lives.”
Watch the footage below.
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