Red Hot Chili Peppers to Bring Taylor Hawkins’ Wife to New Orleans Jazz Fest

When the news broke about the untimely passing of the Foo Fighters drummer and NHC frontman Taylor Hawkins, one of the ripple effects was what would happen to the Foo Fighters’ upcoming string of show dates.

Well, when it came to filling their spot at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, the Red Hot Chili Peppers have stepped up and will take over the headlining responsibilities.

On top of that, RHCP has announced that the band will bring Hawkins’ wife, Alison, to the big show in the Crescent City to honor her and try to provide a bit of celebration in what has certainly been a difficult time.

Said the Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith to Billboard, “It’s going to be a celebration. 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 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 honored that we can do that with her. … We’re going to play our hearts out.”

The band has long had a relationship—the Foo Fighters opened for the Peppers on their Californication tour in 1999.

Added Smith, “His essence of his creative energy is out in another universe somewhere and he was able to express that here in his short life. Wherever he is, I feel strongly and believe that he is doing his Taylor Hawkins as only he can. He’s doing that somewhere else and giving that love and life to everybody wherever he is now that he did here. So that gives me a little bit of comfort, but I miss the fuck out of him.”

For the festival, the Peppers will perform at New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival on Sunday (May 1). The band released their newest LP, Unlimited Love, earlier this year.

Smith also posted a tribute video for Hawkins on Instagram, which you can see below.

Photo by Jim Bennett/Getty Images