Rock's widely considered de facto leader Dave Grohl, has suffered some difficult losses over the years, but the recent death of bandmate and musical partner of over 25 years, drummer Taylor Hawkins, has surely delivered one of the hardest blows to the courageous rocker.
However, flanked by many of the late drummers’ biggest influences, Grohl took to the stage for a massive concert at London’s iconic Wembley Stadium over the weekend (Sept 3rd), honouring the musicians’ infectious energy that touched and inspired them all with a series of uniquely awesome performances from the industry’s greatest.
One of those performances involved the reuniting of Them Crooked Vultures, a modern rock and roll supergroup featuring Grohl on drums, Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones, Queens of the Stoneage frontman Josh Homme and Alain Johannes, the guitarist who’s played with QOTSA, PJ Harvey and many, many more.
Them Crooked Vultures was a short-lived, but highly regarded project that produced one eponymous album in 2009, followed by a global stadium tour in 2010 before the members returned to their respective bands.
For their first show in 12 years at Foo Fighters' ‘Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert’, the all-star band kicked things off with a cover of Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which was introduced by a video message remembering Hawkins from Sir Elton himself. The short set also included a rendition of the Vultures' own song Gunman and a cover of QOTSA’s 2005 track Long Slow Goodbye.
Josh Homme told the crowd: “Everybody, look to the left. Look to the right. The world’s gonna end soon, there’s no time left except for love, and I fucking love you. And I love Taylor. On behalf of everyone here, I hope you have the best time – the time of your life.”
Check out footage below.
Them Crooked Vultures reunido novamente no show-tributo ao Taylor Hawkins. Josh Homme, Dave Grohl, John P Jones e Alain Johannes. CARALHO pic.twitter.com/JetXyK7WTI
— Teco (@Edukator_Teco) September 3, 2022
Nice to see Them Crooked Vultures play together again….
— Mark Cameron (@NotMarkCameron) September 3, 2022
Just wish It wasn’t to honour the loss of a friend#TaylorHawkins #TaylorHawkinsTribute pic.twitter.com/2poekRZDLp
🦅HAY BUITRES REVOLOTEANDO POR LONDRES
— Pogopedia (@Pogopedia) September 3, 2022
⭐ Them Crooked Vultures se reunió en Wembley para tocar "Gunman". Dave Grohl, Josh Homme, John Paul Jones y Alain Johannes juntos en #taylorhawkinstribute pic.twitter.com/jA6Jv4Lbq8
The Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert included a myriad of incredible performances and collaborations, with everyone from the Pretenders, Joe Walsh, Brian Johnstone, Alanis Morissette, and Liam Gallaher – just to name a few – coming together in celebrating the force that was Taylor Hawkins. The entire show is available to watch on MTV’s YouTube channel, here.
RIP Taylor.
Listen to Them Crooked Vultures on Spotify:
Listen to Them Crooked Vultures on Apple Music:
