Watch: JOAN JETT Pays Emotional Tribute To TAYLOR HAWKINS At Georgia’s BROOKHAVEN CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL

Joan Jett paid tribute to Taylor Hawkins during her headlining concert on Saturday (March 26) at the Brookhaven Cherry Blossom Festival in Brookhaven, Georgia. Prior to launching into the song “Fragile” from her band JOAN JETT AND THE BLACKHEARTS, she called Taylor “one of the greatest drummers of our time,” adding that “the [FOO FIGHTERS] and Taylor are good friends of ours. And I can’t even tell you what it means to all of us.” Her voice cracking with emotion, Joan went on to say: “So this next song is for him. But really, all of you take it to heart — it’s true for everybody: life is very fragile. One moment you’re here and the next you’re gone.”

Jett served one of the guest vocalists when the surviving NIRVANA members — including FOO FIGHTERS frontman Dave Grohl and guitarist Pat Smear — performed together to celebrate the band’s induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2014. Four years later, she performed with Grohl, Smear and former NIRVANA bassist Krist Novoselic at Cal Jam.

Hawkins died at a hotel in Bogota, Colombia on Friday (March 25). Local officials said an ambulance was sent to the hotel after a man reported having chest pains. The 50-year-old musician did not respond to resuscitation efforts and was declared dead, the city’s health department said.

On Saturday, the Colombian attorney general’s office announced that Hawkins had opioids, marijuana and other drugs in his system before he died. A toxicology report showed traces of 10 substances in his body, including anti-depressants, the office said. The statement added that the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences “will conduct the necessary medical studies to ascertain the cause of death” and that it “will continue the investigation and will report the results obtained within the framework thereof in a timely manner.”

FOO FIGHTERS announced Hawkins‘s death on their Instagram account. “The FOO FIGHTERS family is devastated by the tragic and untimely loss of our beloved Taylor Hawkins,” the announcement read. “His musical spirit and infectious laughter will live on with all of us forever. Our hearts go out to his wife, children and family, and we ask that their privacy be treated with the utmost respect in this unimaginably difficult time.”

The FOO FIGHTERS were scheduled to perform Friday at the Picnic Stereo festival in Bogota but their performance was canceled.

The band played Lollapalooza Chile on March 18 and Lollapalooza Argentina on March 20. They were scheduled to headline Lollapalooza Brasil on Sunday (March 27).

Hawkins has been open about his history of drug use. He overdosed on heroin in 2001 and spent a week in a coma, just four years after joining the FOO FIGHTERS.

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