Violet Grohl opens up Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert with haunting version of Hallelujah

Violet Grohl
Violet Grohl onstage at the at Hollywood Palladium earlier this year (Image credit: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)

The second Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert is underway at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The event was kicked off by Violet Grohl – daughter of Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl – who performed a cover of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah accompanied by guitarist Alain Johannes.

Violet's emotional version of the song was followed by an introduction to the night's events from Dave Grohl, who explained that the evening was an opportunity to “spend some time in [Taylor Hawkins’] musical mind, which could be a pretty terrifying place”. He went on to say that the evening was to “celebrate this person that has touched our lives."

Among the musicians lined up to play at the show are Def Leppard's Joe Elliott, Rick Savage and Phil Collen, Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler, Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee, Heart legend Nancy Wilson, Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith, Joan Jett, Alanis Morissette, Sebastian Bach, Pink, Leann Rimes, Brad Wilk, Tool's Danny Carey, Soundgarden's Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron, Taylor Momsen from The Pretty Reckless, and Yes singer Jon Davison.

Musicians who played in London and will return for the LA show include Rush pair Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, Brian May, John Paul Jones, Stewart Copeland, Lars Ulrich and Wolfgang Van Halen.

Unlike the Wembley show, the Los Angeles Tribute Concert is not being streamed live. 

Money raised by the concert will benefit Music Support UK and the Recording Academy's MusicCares.

Foo Fighters recently announced they'd release a new album titled The Essential Foo Fighters on October 28 via Sony Music. It'll contain a total of 21 tracks including EverlongLearn To FlyMonkey Wrench and Best Of You.

The Taylor Hawkins tribute show from Wembley Stadium, London, is available to watch on-demand with a Paramount+ subscription.

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Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.