Mark Ronson discusses emotional Taylor Hawkins tribute concert
Prolific producer Mark Ronson was one of many musicians who joined Dave Grohl to celebrate the late Taylor Hawkins at his tribute concert on September 3rd.
Alongside the likes of Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, Travis Barker, Liam Gallagher, Roger Taylor and Josh Homme, Ronson paid tribute to the Foo Fighters drummer, who he described as “beloved.”
Ronson was joined by Grohl’s teenage daughter Violet to perform the Ronson-Amy Winehouse collaboration ‘Valerie’, originally performed by The Zutons.
Speaking about the event, Ronson has now described the effect that it had on him: “The whole day gave everybody a chance to come together and communally celebrate, grieve and feel something together. Throughout the whole of Foo Fighters’ set, I was on the cusp of rocking out and breaking down.”
He also explained how it felt like one big celebration of other late musicians, “It was Taylor’s day but it felt like the theme of that day was very much about all the other rock ’n’ roll legends that are unfortunately not with us, whether that’s Bowie, Jeff Buckley or Amy. Without taking the shine away from Taylor, I was just singing about everyone who should still be jamming with us.”
“I do think it’s probably one of the greatest rock and roll shows ever assembled.”
Ronson worked with Hawkins shortly before he died on a track by King Princess called ‘Let It Die’. At the time, he exclaimed that “It’s just one of the most fucking incredible drum performances I’ve ever recorded.” He has since said that “It was the musical highlight for me of that whole year.”
After the tribute concert, Ronson gave more of his thoughts during an interview. He said: “I knew Taylor a fraction as well as most of the other people performing, but it was amazing to be around all these other people who love Taylor, listening to stories about him, because it felt like spending a little more time with him.”
He added: “We were texting three days before he passed about cutting some records. He should have played on thousands more recordings. He really was so beloved across a wide spectrum of people and musicians.”
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