The Foo Fighters continue to honor their late drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
The band played for about 45,000 people at a sold-out show in Veterans Park for the Harley-Davidson Homecoming Festival Saturday.
Near the end of the night, the band began playing Hawkins’ favorite Foo Fighters song, “Aurora,” prompting the packed field to chant his name while a silhouette of a hawk hovered on the big screen.
“Aurora” was not the first dedication to Hawkins and certainly will not be the last. During the group’s surprise appearance at Glastonbury, frontman Dave Grohl dedicated “Everlong” to Hawkins. The band played the festival slot marked for the ChurnUps, but leading up to the festival fans speculated that the ChurnUps was a cover for the Foo Fighters.
“You guys f***ing knew it was us this whole time, didn’t you?” Grohl asked the audience. “It’s nice to see you guys after all this time.”
“I would like to thank every one of you for sticking around for the last 28 years and helping us learn how to start this whole thing over again,” Grohl told the Glastonbury audience. “I’d like to dedicate this song to Mr. Taylor Hawkins. So let’s sing this one loud as s**t for Mr. Taylor.”
Veteran session drummer Josh Freese has taken over the kit in Hawkins’ absence. Bay Area fans can see the Foo Fighters perform with new drummer Josh Freese at Outside Lands as they headline the festival on Saturday, August 12th.
Watch the performance below.