The second of two Taylor Hawkins tribute shows took place last night at LA’s Kia Forum, and featured 53 emotional musical performances dedicated to the late Foo Fighters drummer, who passed away suddenly earlier this year.
One particularly powerful performance, which did not take place during the first show in London on September 3, came from Nancy Wilson, who recruited Queens of the Stone Age’s Jon Theodore, members of Foo Fighters and Pink – aka Alecia Beth Moore – for an awe-inspiring rendition of Heart’s Barracuda.
Various fan-filmed clips from the performance can be found below.
Simply put, it was a knockout cover of the 1977 track, and arguably one of the highlights from all 103 songs that were performed across the two Taylor Hawkins tribute shows.
Of course, the guitar performances were all five-star: Wilson swiftly sets the scene with her Bigsy-equipped Gibson SG, serving up the iconic main riff while Grohl – sticking to his trusted Trini Lopez-inspired DG-335 – dutifully acted as melodic understudy.
Chris Shiflett’s Gibson Flying V completed the six-string triumvirate, busying himself with twinkly harmonics before dishing out a faithful guitar solo. Pink’s vocals deserve a mention, too, doing justice to Ann Wilson’s original performance while flexing her fierce range.
Not only was the rendition one of the best musical performances to take place across both Taylor Hawkins tribute shows, it was an apt inclusion on the running order given its close connection to Hawkins himself.
In 2020, when virtual lockdown covers were all the rave, Wilson joined Hawkins for a long-distance performance of Barracuda, recording their respective parts in their own studios before piecing them together.
For that rendition, they were also joined by guitar virtuoso Nuno Bettencourt and R&B singer-songwriter Liv Warfield.
The second Taylor Hawkins tribute show was filled with a suite of standout performances from its six-hour runtime. Such highlights include a partial Soundgarden reunion, which saw Kim Thayil and Matt Cameron tap Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and more to perform The Day I Tried to Live and Black Hole Sun.
Wolfgang Van Halen also returned to cover Van Halen’s Panama, after nailing both Hot For Teacher and On Fire during the first Taylor Hawkins tribute event.
