As you’ve likely heard by now, the music world was stunned this week by the death of Taylor Hawkins.
The Foo Fighters drummer passed away whilethe band was on tour in Colombia.
He was just 50 years old.
Hawkins touched countless lives during his tragically short time on earth, and fans, friends, and fellow musicians have spent the past week sharing personal memories of their time with him.
Machine Gun Kelly is the latest celeb to come forward with a heartwarming tale from Taylor’s final days.
The singer appeared on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM show on Thursday, and revealed that he and his band were along for part of the recent Lollapalooza your of South America, on which the Foos also performed.
During a stop in Paraguay singer Dave Grohl informed MGK that the entire band was planning to check out his set.
Unfortunately, the night’s show was canceled due to inclement weather.
Two days later, Taylor lost his life.
“That day was the day that the Foo Fighters were playing with us, on the same stage, and I had texted [Dave Grohl] and he was like, ‘Yes, I’m going to come watch the show,’ they had never seen the show,” Kelly told Stern.
“That was the day, ‘Oh my god, the Foo Fighters are going to watch our show,'” he continued.
“So we went to sound check just to sharpen up and we built speakers just so they — while they were watching from the side — could hear fully. We were so excited, man. The rain came … get a call, the show’s canceled.”
Kelly recalled that the evening turned around thanks to an invitation from Grohl.
“I’m texting Dave and we’re super bummed, he’s like, ‘Come over to the hotel, we’ll shut the rooftop down and have some drinks,'” MGK said.
Kelly arrived with a crew of 20, and he was worried that he’d brought too many people with him.
However, he recalls that “the whole Foo Fighters team — but specifically Taylor” was incredibly inviting.
“He went up to every single one of us and gave us each our moment. Like, every single one of us, man, down to my assistant,” he said, calling Hawkins “such a beautiful soul.”
“He was so proud of his kids. He was so bright. He came to all of us. We were tripping out … he stopped at every single person. He gave his heart,” Kelly added.
He concluded the anecdote with amessage to Hawkins’ children, saying:
“I just want to say, to his kids, your father, when we left there, the kids in us came out. We were just like, ‘This is the greatest night of out life, these legends.'”
“The last thing he had said — my drummer, we were tripping out over this — the last thing he had said to him, he was like, ‘I’m just so bummed I didn’t get to see you guys play.’
“I really want to thank him and let his kids know that he made us feel, in a time when the outside world was really coming in hard on us, he made us feel so confident in ourselves and loved.”
“Your father is a great, great man and we are all lucky to know him.”
While most of Hawkins fans were not fortunate enough to meet him, the drummers popularity had as much to do with his warm, affable demeanor as his skill behind the kit.
Our thoughts go out to his loved ones during this enormously difficult time.