Former Police member Stewart Copeland recently joined an interview with AXS TV’s Power Hour and made a striking remark about the Taylor Hawkins tribute concert he joined.
Wolfgang Van Halen was also present in the same chat as the other guest. When the conversation shifted to if Wolf and Copeland knew each other, the Mammoth WVH frontman recalled how they met in the Hawkins tribute. When the drummer said what an incredible day it was, Van Halen continued:
“I mean, with the emotional weight of it all, that was one of the most special things I think I’ve ever been a part of, certainly.”
Copeland agreed with him, explaining the importance of the concert:
“Me too. I mean, I’ve been involved in a lot of things, but I think that was probably the biggest show day ever.”
Later in the conversation, one of the hosts went back to the tribute concert and called it ‘a love letter to drumming,’ as many contemporary drummers were a part of it. Stewart added with a comment:
“What it was was a giant audition for who the next Foo Fighters drummer is gonna be. In front of 80,000 people, they got to camp everybody. For me, Chad [Smith], everybody was there. Omar [Hakim] holding it down, and Josh [Freese]. Everybody was there. All got their chance to be a Foo Fighter for two songs.”
It is known that Copeland was a huge influence on Taylor Hawkins, and the two later became friends. Following the latter’s death, the musician shared his thoughts on the late drummer in an interview with Jill Riley, saying:
“He’s a very effusive, cheerful, upbeat. He has a very effervescent personality. He’s a fan, superfan. I was like, ‘You are a rock star, okay? show a little disrespect.’ But he’s in that strata in a bandwidth of people who were 16 when I was in my glory days.”
Stewart played a rendition of the Police’s 1978 single ‘Next to You,’ and another Police classic ‘Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,’ with Foo Fighters and Gaz Coombes joining him at the tribute show.
You can watch the rest of the chat below.
