The concert also featured Liam Gallagher, ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders, Them Crooked Vultures and the likes of Nile Rodgers, Supergrass, Blink-182 and Queen. Frontman Dave Grohl also took the time to address the audience in a tribute to Hawkins. The people who knew him well knew that he could make everyone laugh, sing and dance, it sounded. “For those who worship him from afar, I’m sure you felt the same.” This evening “we are together with family, close friends, his music heroes and his great sources of inspiration”, the artist stated, to give everyone a “gigantic” evening, for “a gigantic” person. “So sing and dance and laugh and cry and scream and make some fucking noise so he can hear us now.”
After the London performance, a tribute to Hawkins will follow on September 27 at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles.