Johnny Marr dedicated his performance of ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ at this year’s BBC 6 Music Festival to Taylor Hawkins.
The Foo Fighters drummer died on March 25 at the age of 50. He was found in his hotel room in Bogotá, Colombia, hours before the band were were set to headline a festival in the city as part of a South American tour.
Marr played The Smiths classic at Cardiff’s Great Hall on Sunday (April 3). “This is a song that we’d like to dedicate to our friend Dave Grohl,” he said, introducing the track.
“Lots of love going out to you guys and all the Foos family. We miss you Taylor, we won’t ever forget you. God bless you. This is from all of us.”
Elsewhere, during his set, Marr played The Smiths’ ‘Panic’ and ‘This Charming Man’, plus a cover of Depeche Mode‘s ‘I Feel You’. He returned for an encore to play ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ and ‘How Soon Is Now?’.
The Grammys memorialised Hawkins with a special tribute at the Las Vegas ceremony last night (April 3).
“This was the moment in the show when I was supposed to be introducing the Foo Fighters,” host Trevor Noah explained during the ceremony. “We would have been celebrating with them as they won three Grammy awards earlier today.
“But they are, of course, not here due to the passing of their legendary drummer Taylor Hawkins. Our thoughts go out to Taylor’s family, his friends, the Foo Fighter family and all of their fans around the world. We’d like to take a moment now to remember Taylor.”
Earlier in the ceremony, Billie Eilish also paid tribute to Hawkins during her performance of ‘Happier Than Ever’. For the appearance, the pop star wore a t-shirt with the late rockstar on the front of it.
In other news, Johnny Marr and Modest Mouse revealed last month that they had started working on new music together, which would be their first since Marr’s stint in the band from 2006-2008.
Speaking to NME last year, Marr said: “I would like for it to happen one day.”
“That’s not me being coy – I just miss them. We’ve just got so much planned for the next couple of years. We’ve got the double album, touring and then I’m going to probably do another film, but I’d probably have to do a new record with Isaac. They’re the one band that I’d rejoin.”