Red Hot Chili Peppers have replaced Foo Fighters on the lineup for this weekend’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Ahead of the festival, RHCP drummer Chad Smith told Billboard that the band intends to celebrate Foo Fighters’ late drummer, Taylor Hawkins.
“We’re taking Alison, [Hawkins’] wife, with us and it’s going to be a celebration,” he said. “That’s what she wants. She doesn’t want it to be anything other than, ‘Let’s celebrate music, let’s celebrate our friends, let’s celebrate Taylor. This is what he would want and he would be very happy that you guys are playing and he would want it [to] be nothing but a positive experience.’
“So we’re going to do all that and she’s going to be part of that and I’m very honoured that we can do that with her. We’re going to play our hearts out.”
Hawkins died at the age of 50 on Friday, 25th March, while on tour with the Foo Fighters in Bogotá, Colombia. Hawkins was found unresponsive in his hotel room. Foo Fighters were nearing the end of a South American tour and were scheduled to appear at Bogotá’s Festival Estéreo Picnic on the day of Hawkins’ passing. The band subsequently cancelled all upcoming tour dates.
Red Hot Chili Peppers’ latest album, Unlimited Love, came out on Friday, 1st April. The band’s 12th album is their first since reuniting with guitarist John Frusciante, who left after 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
