Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert

When they announced members of Rush and Queen would attend the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert, I knew I would attend no matter what (those groups had never been on a bill together). I was surprised and happy when Jill said she wanted to as well, so I’d made plans. I got shutout of the presale and regular sale, but went to a reseller for seats (in the highest section). The London show just made me more pumped, and I had made a playlist for us of what I guessed the LA would bring. When our tickets were scanned successfully, the anxiety melted away and I was ready for a show that would surpass all my expectations.

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In London, Violet Grohl had come out late in the show to perform several Jeff Buckley songs. Right at 7PM, she came out first and played “Hallelujah”, a Leonard Cohen song Jeff Buckley had famously covered (with Eleven’s Alain Johannes). Then the Foo Fighters came out and introduced Joan Jett, along with drummer Travis Barker (from Blink-182). They did “Cherry Bomb”, a song from her first group The Runaways (the first all girl band) and “Bad Reputation” (I had called for “Bad Reputation” and “I Love Rock ‘N Roll”). Then the Foos left the stage, and as in London, we got sets from Taylor’s bands Chevy Metal & Taylor Hawkins and The Coattail Riders. Chevy Metal did a completely different set of covers, this time breaking out AC/DC’s “Riff Raff”, Yes’s “Owner Of A Lonely Heart” (with current Yes singer Jon Davison) and David Bowie’s “Heroes” (with Kesha, who’d covered T. Rex’s “Children Of The Revolution” at this point in London). The Coattail Riders were then up, with Justin Hawkins from The Darkness on vocals again. They did “Range Rover Bitch” and “It’s Over”, but then brought up Mark King from Level 42 to do his song “Something About You”. In a move I was surprised they didn’t do in London, drummer Rufus Taylor (son of Roger Taylor and current drummer for The Darkness) joined them for a great version of “I Believe In A Thing Called Love”.

Dave Grohl Joan Jett

Next was the James Gang, doing the same set as London (“Walk Away”, “The Bomber” & “Funk #49”) with Dave Grohl on the last song. Still a nice treat, as they’re only doing 3 reunion shows this year. Mark Ronson didn’t do Amy Winehouse’s “Valerie” like he did in London (he produced that song), instead throwing a cover of Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down The Line” at us. Them Crooked Vultures was up, again covering Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” and frontman Josh Homme’s own “Long Slow Goodbye”, but subbing in “Dead End Friends” instead of “Gunman” for their sole track of theirs. It was so nice to see them again – I saw them 3 times in 2009, but all before their album came out. Dave Grohl came out to introduce Mammoth WVH’s Wolfgang Van Halen and Justin Hawkins as they tore through Van Halen’s “Panama” (in for “On Fire” from London) and “Hot For Teacher”, all showing that while Wolfgang Van Halen was understandably reluctant to do any tribute to his dad, he is remarkably capable of doing so.

Dave Grohl

The middle section of the show (already 2 hours in) featured the Foo Fighters returning to the stage with different singers and drummers. The first guests brought the most press of the night, as Def Leppard’s Joe Elliot, Phil Collen & Rick Savage were joined by Weezer’s Patrick Wilson for “Rock Of Ages” (called it) and Photograph (thought they’d pour a little sugar instead). On the latter song Miley Cyrus came out to duet with Joe Elliot as a sea of phones were raised to record it. Derek Day came out and sang “Live Wire” and “Home Sweet Home” with Nikki Sixx & Tommy Lee from Mötley Crüe, then Josh Homme joined Elliot Easton from The Cars for “Shake It Up” and “Just What I Needed”. I had thought Nancy Wilson of Heart would have shown up play “These Dreams” (which she sings lead on), but instead they brought up P!nk and drummer Jon Theodore (from Queens of the Stone Age) for a run through “Barracuda”. Stewart Copeland did the same set with the Foos as London: “Next To You” and “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”, but on the latter Dave surrendered vocal duties to Jon Davison, back again. Seemingly the only act to not get an introduction, Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers counted off “You Oughta Know” as Alanis Morissette flew in from the side of the stage. Finally Sebastian Bach (Skid Row), Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath) & Lars Ulrich (Metallica) joined for a run through some Black Sabbath classics: “Supernaut” and “Paranoid”.

Nancy Wilson P!nk

The next part was my favorite. Jack Black strode onstage to introduce Rush. They played the same set as London: “2112 Part I: Overture”, “Working Man” & “YYZ”, but instead of Dave playing the first two on drums and Omar Hakim playing “YYZ”, Dave slid out and Chad Smith slid in between the first two, and Tool’s Danny Carey took over for “YYZ”. One of the rumors for the gig had been the possibility of a Nirvana reunion, since Joan Jett had sung for them at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Krist Novselic was in the bill. Instead we got a taste of the I Am The Highway: A Tribute to Chris Cornell tribute concert from 2019 as Matt Cameron and Kim Thayil from Soundgarden were joined by Krist Novselic on bass with Taylor Momsen (from The Pretty Reckless) on vocals for “The Day I Tried To Live” and “Black Hole Sun”. Great stuff, and the first time I’d seen Krist Novselic (or Taylor Momsen). Then Queen came out with thunderous drums, as both Roger & Rufus Taylor were there, along with once again Justin Hawkins (surely the MVP for both shows) on “We Will Rock You” (a medley of slow and fast versions). Roger Taylor took lead on his “I’m In Love With My Car”, then Justin returned to duet with Roger on “Under Pressure”, and finally P!nk returned to take us through “Somebody To Love”. Everyone left but Brian May, and he told us how Alison Hawkins, Taylor’s wife, had asked for him to do “Love Of My Life” as it was their song. So he did it with help from all of us singing along.

Queen

It was after 11PM by this point, and finally time for the main event: Foo Fighters. They started with “All My Life” (with Josh Freese), then P!nk came back to duet on “The Pretender” (with Jon Theodore). Travis Barker returned to drum on “Walk”, and Matt Cameron came back for “Low” (Dave acknowledged the drum fill owed a debt to Soundgarden’s “Jesus Christ Pose”). Rage Against The Machine’s Brad Wilk filled the drum throne for “This Is A Call”, while Patrick Wilson was up again for the next two songs, starting with “The Sky Is A Neighborhood”. At this point in the London show, Paul McCartney came out unannounced. The surprise here was more out of left field, as the band started into Radiohead’s “Creep” and Dave Chappelle came out to sing it (in London he’d told stories of Taylor instead). The only mosh pit of the night started as Omar Hakim subbed in for “Run”. “Best Of You” was next as Rufus Taylor was back on drums (I really think he may be the next drummer for the Foos). Finally they brought out Taylor’s son Shane to play “My Hero” and “I’ll Stick Around”. Dave did a solo “Everlong” to close out London, but here Chad Smith joined them for the last song before we left on a high, 5 1/2 hours after it began.

Foo Fighters

It may have been the best one I’ve ever attended, and that’s after crossing 3,000 concerts a couple years ago. I was inspired to create this chart that shows where in the songs came from, making the show an excellent primer for rock in the last 50 years.

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September

On Friday the 2nd, the ladies took advantage of the day off from school and all got pedicures. Of course it was Nina’s birthday, and we took her to Melting Pot for the first time to celebrate. She liked all three fondues, but being able to dip fruit and brownies in s’mores and pure chocolate at the end was her favorite. Saturday the ladies went apple picking while Dave and I sat out on the deck on watched the livestream of the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert from London. I thought it was insanely awesome. I especially liked Foo Fighters covering The Police with Stewart Copeland on drums when we were about to go see Sting that night. Originally we were going to take Nina with us, but since Sue and Dave were there, Sue stayed home with her and Dave came to the show and had a good time. Labor Day I took Dave fishing on the boat.

Nina Jill Sue Dave Kerry

Friday the 9th Nina woke up very congested and didn’t want to go to school. A Covid test was negative, but Jill urged me to go to the walk in clinic for Nina’s pediatrician. They were very busy and we waited outside for an hour for a room to open. They tested her for strep and flu, and to my surprise, she had the flu. She was mostly upset that meant her birthday party (a sleepover with her friends) would be bumped to October. That night I went to Patty Griffin & Neko Case at Wolf Trap, great sets by each. Nina was taking Theraflu and mostly just sat around watching YouTube and playing Minecraft. She missed a Girl Scouts meeting, so they walked over to give her some well wishes. Jill felt she could go back to school on Tuesday.

Nina

It was a rare concert tripleheader the following weekend. Friday the 16th was Jill and I going to the Encore Circle, then enjoying Boyz II Men with SWV bringing some new jack swing to a sold out Wolf Trap. How did I not know that Shawn Stockman from Boyz II Men could shred? He did a very respectable cover of “Wonderful Tonight”. Saturday we went to The Food Market again (dinner and a show really makes me want to go to more shows at Merriweather Post Pavilion), then walked over to the Outlaw Music Festival where we saw Zach Bryan, The Avett Brothers & Willie Nelson (Nina says “how could you drag me to see country music?”). Then Sunday I went solo to Porcupine Tree at The Anthem for their first tour in 12 years (3rd row from the presale didn’t suck).

Boyz II Men

On Saturday the 24th we were up not too early to get to Dulles for a 12:30 flight to Los Angeles. The flight was uneventful. We chose a cheaper car rental company, Priceless Car Rental. That meant we took the Renaissance Hotel shuttle and went up to the top of the parking garage where there office was. It was amusing to me a guy arrived after me cut in line to be next, and then I got a Mercedes Benz C300 while he got a Kia. Once we got to our hotel, the lovely Hotel MdR Marina del Rey, we were hungry and decided to walk over to Burger Lounge, eating outside. I went to the Pavilions grocery store, which turned out to be another store in the Safeway chain, to pick up some medicine and snacks. After for relaxing a while with the Wi-Fi in the room, we were still hungry, so we walked over to Capri Gelato & Coffee for dessert. Nina still had energy later but Jill didn’t, so we went down to the pool and she swam while I watched.

Nina

Sunday morning we had breakfast at the hotel buffet, then both Jill and Nina had online meetings. We gave Jill the room and went to the empty café next to pool so she could attend her Girl Scouts meeting. I walked over to T-Mobile to get a USB-C to USB-C cable as the Benz only had those ports. After that we hopped in the car and drove to Autozone as the Benz also had funky vents and couldn’t hold my phone holder. I tried to order one online, but they were out of stock so I picked one up at the store. Then we went north to Santa Clarita where Jill’s cousin lives with her husband and son (Jill’s aunt and uncle live nearby). We hung out and chatted while the kids played outside, then we had takeout pizza from Tomato Joe’s.

Nina

We left as it was getting dark, I took Jill and Nina back to the hotel where they swam. I met up with my friend Jay (from Shantytowne) at the legendary Whisky A Go-Go. We were there for the return of Robby Krieger (from The Doors) 55 years after The Doors got their start there for a sold out show. We picked a good spot on the balcony for what turned out to be a very long show (not bad for an 76 year old).

Nina

Monday Nina wanted pho, so we went to Blossom Vietnamese when they opened and sat outside in the sun. I dropped Jill and Nina at the hotel to swim while I continued on to Soundsations, which had a lovely used CD section. We then drove up to Santa Monica where we parked in a garage, got some boba tea from Sharetea, then walked down to the Santa Monica Pier and looked around, then Nina and Jill frolicked in the ocean for a bit.

Nina Jill

We cleaned off in the hotel, then met our friend Teresa (also from Shantytowne), her daughter Pauline and their dog Dandy at a nearby playground/dog park where all the young ones got to play. Then we went to their house where her husband Travis had come home and we got takeout from xxxxxx before heading back to the hotel.

Travis Kerry Teresa Jill Nina

Tuesday I’d managed to snag timed tickets at The Broad for both Kusama’s infinity room and the museum (the museum is free but the parking definitely isn’t). Nina didn’t want to go into the infinity room, but she was taken by the modern art in the museum itself. Nina wasn’t in love with the main reason for our trip (later that night), but as a budding K-pop fan, definitely wanted to go to Koreatown. We started with a lovely lunch at Yellow House, which had several open air rooms around a courtyard.

Nina

Next we went down to Koreatown Plaza, an indoor mall. We walked around and Nina really liked Music Plaza, I bought her several CDs (Twice and Jennie’s single). Next stop was a music store for me, Amoeba Music. Nina wasn’t really interested, but Jill had seen Funko Hollywood across the street, and both Nina and I were very happy with our purchases. We also had to make a stop so Nina could take a picture of the iconic Hollywood sign (who knew that the Hollywood Home Depot is a good place to stop?).

Nina

Jay was planning on coming with us that evening, but had caught something non-Covid but bad. We asked Teresa and Travis since they were local and had expressed some interest, and Travis agreed to come. So we got back as quickly as possible given the traffic (The Californians don’t exaggerate), then I walked over to Sharky’s and we ate and went outside where Travis was waiting for us. I made parking reservations for a garage about a half mile away. I’d planned on reviewing the show in this month’s entry, but that review is so long it’s getting its own entry. Travis dropped us back at the hotel afterwards, where we had only a couple hours sleep until we had to checkout and get to the airport for an early flight back on Alaska Airlines.

Nina