Miley Broke Down During Her Tribute To Her Friend Taylor Hawkins At Her Lolla Brazil Performance This Weekend
People - Like much of the music world, Miley Cyrus is in mourning.
Two days after the singer's flight to Paraguay was struck by lightning on Wednesday, Cyrus, 29, learned that her friend Taylor Hawkins had died just outside of Bogotá, Colombia, at age 50.
During the set, Cyrus tearfully paid tribute to Hawkins with a performance of her 2020 song "Angels Like You" and a special speech honoring her late friend.
The singer's sister, Brandi Cyrus, shared a clip of the tribute on her Instagram Story, showing Miley passionately performing the track.
"We had to make an emergency landing, and the first person I called was Taylor because he was already at the festival and that would have been a time that I would have gotten to see my friend and I didn't," Cyrus said, according to Entertainment Tonight and Page Six. "I would have done anything to hang out with him one more time."
First off, I was away this weekend and couldn't chime in on the Taylor Hawkins news. Robbie did an excellent job doing so as usual though.
How fucking awful man.
It's not news and everybody keeps saying it but we really are losing talent at an alarming rate lately.
Admittedly, I have been in a public feud with White Sox Dave for a few years now over Taylor Hawkins.
It all stems from a Barstool Radio show we did where he claimed Taylor Hawkins was the most talented and important person in The Foo Fighters.
When he said this I almost fell out of my chair and I wasn't even sitting.
I asked him on what planet, where Dave Grohl is a band member, is Dave Grohl not the most talented member of said band?
After all, Taylor Hawkins has been famously quoted multiple times as saying "its hard to be a drummer in a band when you're not even the best drummer in the band." Obviously nodding to Grohl's drum talents.
(smooth, suave, and self-deprecating bastard)
Dave argued, and rightfully so, that Hawkins had time and time again proved that he could carry the band if need be.
Like the time Grohl infamously fell from the stage and shattered his leg.
Hawkins stepped in to take over vocal duties until Grohl was casted up and came back to finish the show in a chair.
Or the numerous times Hawkins took over duties during live shows and absolutely CRUSHED covers.
Like this one, one of my favorite covers of one of my favorite songs ever-
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Being a big fan of seeing Foo Fighters live, and considering their performances up there with just about anybody else's from a live concert perspective, Hawkins obviously played an integral role.
He always got the loudest ovation during introductions.
He played the drums like a fucking maniac every night for 3 hours and never seemed to mail anything in.
And he genuinely seemed like he was having fun up there while doing it all.
All that said, I respected and loved Hawkins, I just thought it was bananas to claim he was more important to the band than Dave Grohl.
But I respected Dave's love for him nonetheless.
Fast forward to this weekend and I get a text from our podcast partner with the Foo Fighters statement…
I couldn't believe it at first.
And then I thought about it some, and eventually, and sadly, I could.
In a fucked up (really fucked up) way, I think rock stars and entertainers are wired completely differently from "the rest of us".
Everything is in excess and they are constantly chasing highs.
Their highs are different from normal highs. Which is expected when you're playing in front of stadiums of screaming adoring fans who basically worship you. (For anybody that's ever performed on a stage in front of even 50 people, nevermind 50,000, you'll most likely agree that the feeling is intoxicating.)
When you're constantly enjoying everything in excess, the simple things stop becoming as easy to enjoy. Some people even begin to downright despise and avoid them altogether. Depression is a very real and very common thing.
How do people on top of the world, that "have it all" become depressed you ask?
I don't know.
But it happens enough now that it's time we start figuring it out.
We've seen too many entertainers now passing away alone, in hotel rooms, or in confined mansion bedrooms, strung out on lethal cocktails of drugs they were far, far, far too experienced in taking to accidentally overdose on.
The notion that "live fast die young" has to be a mantra for rock stars to truly be remembered is fucked up and outdated.
I like my rock stars like Bob Seger or Bruce Springsteen.
Enjoying old age either in the shadows being a family man, or still crushing stages every year and gifting the world their art.
All that said, love or hate Miley (if you hate her you're an asshole), you have to feel for her here.
She wasn't some artist that crossed paths with Hawkins once or twice at an awards show looking for clout or sympathy.
Hawkins was a legit close friend of hers.
So much so that after having her plane struck by lighting this week and needing to make an emergency landing, and freaking out, he was the first person she called when she was on the ground.
Watching her get choked up during her tribute to him was touching and it couldn't have been easy for her.
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Rest In Peace Taylor. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends.
Props to Miley. And props to several other artists who have dedicated parts of their shows to Hawkins this week.
Liam Gallagher is the fucking man. And "Live Forever" is the best Oasis song. Don't @ me.
Before launching into a performance of "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" in tribute to Hawkins, Elton John said, "He was one of the nicest people you could have ever met, and one of the greatest drummers and a true musician who loved all sorts of music and loved life. And it seems so sad that of 50-years-of-age, we've lost someone who had that much passion."
During a concert with Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators in Orlando, Florida, the band performed "Starlight" for Hawkins. Slash called Hawkins a "really close friend of ours," saying, "he was a great fucking guy, a fucking sweetheart, he was a really good friend, a kickass drummer, a lot of fun to be around. Completely crushed that we've lost him.
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Wolfgang Van Halen and his group Mammoth WVH performed Foo Fighters' "My Hero" for Hawkins at Big Night Live in Boston. Before the song, Wolfgang Van Halen said, "He was a hero to me, a hero to us [pointing to his band], and a hero to countless people, so we feel this is necessary. We worked this out this morning, so please excuse any rough edges, but we just had to fucking do this."
The Cubs photog checking in with an amazing shot-