That’s why Justin Hawkins “stole” Brian Johnson’s mic

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At the Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert on September 3, Justin Hawkins, singer and lead guitarist for the band The Darkness, joined AC/DC’s singer Brian Johnson and Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich on stage to perform AC/DC’s “Back in Black”. Fans then claim Hawkins grabbed the microphone from Johnson’s hand.

Hawkins was reportedly spotted taking the microphone from Johnson just before they sang the opening lines. The singer has now made it clear on social media that he did not intentionally “steal” his microphone.

“Brian Johnson just wanted to make me laugh”

After a Twitter user wrote that Brian deliberately called him on stage, Hawkins confirmed this statement. He wrote: “Yeah, 10 seconds before the AC/DC part Brian told me to get up for the second verse of BIB. I didn’t want to do it, I’d never sung it before, but Dave Grohl said, ‘If Brian tells you to do something, you bloody well do it.’ Haha”.

Wolfgang Van Halen also commented: “You’re damn right! And you delivered!”. Hawkins modestly replied: “Haha I wouldn’t say that ? To be honest I feel like BJ just wanted to pull me in for a laugh and to give his voice a few seconds to recover for the rest of the track . I thought he did a great job and I’m always happy to help when I’m needed.”

“I had to steal Brian’s microphone”

Hawkins also shared an entire gallery of photos from the evening on Twitter. He wrote: “It’s a privilege to be a part of this show. Everyone involved would trade it in to have Taylor back, but Foo Fighters & The Hawkins Family have created something wonderful in his honor.”

A little later he released another statement. He explained that he had to “swipe” Johnson’s mic out of necessity: “The stage manager rushed to get a mic ready for me, but I didn’t know which one to use and ended up snagging Brian’s, which looked a bit awkward. Brian Johnson is an absolute legend and Dave was right, I couldn’t refuse.”

Queen, Them Crooked Vultures, Foo Fighters and many more

Also performing at the tribute concert were Queen, Liam Gallagher, Supergrass, Dave Grohl’s daughter Violet and Them Crooked Vultures. The latter could be seen live for the first time in twelve years. (Here is the report on the performance.)

The Foo Fighters ended the show with an emotional greatest hits set. They were backed by a rotating cast of guest drummers, including Travis Barker, Nandi Bushell and Taylor Hawkins’ 16-year-old son Shane. (See the evening’s full setlist, including live footage, here.)

Another Taylor Hawkins tribute concert will be held in honor of the late Foo Fighters drummer on September 27th at The Kia Forum in Los Angeles. The line-up for the second show is not yet known.



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