Wolfgang Van Halen Performs ‘Panama’ at 2nd Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert
by Best Classic Bands Staff
Wolfgang Van Halen, performing at the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert in Los Angeles, Sept. 27, 2022
The second of two Taylor Hawkins tribute concerts was held Tuesday (Sept. 27, 2022) with another star-studded lineup honoring the late Foo Fighters drummer. The first event, which took place on Sept. 3 at the much-larger Wembley Stadium in London, featured 50 tracks from the likes of Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, Brian May, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson. This time, the action was at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, with another all-star presentation that delivered a whopping 53 songs over its nearly six hours.
Highlights included a pairing of Sebastian Bach, Geezer Butler and Lars Ulrich with Foo Fighters on a pair of Black Sabbath favorites. Alanis Morissette, for whom Hawkins drummed on her Jagged Little Pill tour, performed “You Oughta Know” from that album. Nancy Wilson was joined by Pink to play Heart’s “Barracuda.” Mötley Crüe played a pair of songs including “Home Sweet Home.” And the reunited James Gang, led by Joe Walsh, performed “Walk Away,” “The Bomber” medley and “Funk #49.”
Perhaps the biggest surprise, though, was Wolfgang Van Halen’s performance. Eddie’s son had played “On Fire” and “Hot For Teacher” at the Wembley concert. On this night, after having famously writing, “I honor my dad by existing and doing what I do every day. I’m not f**king playing ‘Panama’ for you guys,” did just that, by opening his two-song set with the 1984 favorite.
Some of the other unique performances included the opening number with Dave Grohl’s 16-year-old daughter, Violet, singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and Hawkins’ side band, Chevy Band, performing “Owner of a Lonely Heart” with current Yes vocalist Jon Davison.
Watch Joe Walsh being Joe Walsh as the James Gang opened their mini-set with “Walk Away”
Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones again performed with the supergroup Them Crooked Vultures, featuring Josh Homme. Their three-song set included the Queens of the Stone Age song, “Long Slow Goodbye.”
Watch Nancy Wilson with great vocals by Pink perform “Barracuda”
Rush’s Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson reprised the three-song set, including “Working Man,” that they performed on Sept. 3.
Related: Our recap of the Wembley Stadium tribute concert
Brian May and Roger Taylor of Queen were again honored to perform the evening’s second-to-last set. Their five songs included “Somebody to Love” as they welcomed Pink back to the stage.
For Foo Fighters’ mammoth closing set, they included a cover of Radiohead’s “Creep.” The surprise guest vocalist was Dave Chappelle.
“Didn’t see that coming, did you,” said Grohl with a laugh.
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