Rock News

Dave Grohl gets emotional singing ‘Cold Day in the Sun’ at first gig without Taylor Hawkins

Grohl performed an extremely heartfelt rendition of the song.

Foo Fighters have taken the stage for the very first time with their new drummer Josh Freese following the tragic death of Taylor Hawkins last year - and who’s cutting onions? 

It was announced on Monday (May 22) during the band’s Global Listening Livestream Event that Freese would be the man behind the kit for Foo Fighters scheduled live shows, and last night kicked off in New Hampshire’s Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion. 

Grohl made sure to stop and introduce Freese, saying:

"The man behind the drums, Josh Freese has helped save the day here. We would not be here tonight if it weren't for Josh, so everybody give Josh a big fucking round of applause,” which was, in fact, met with a big applause from the crowd.

Following Freese’s introduction, Grohl starts to get emotional as he begins to strum on an acoustic guitar. 

“This is something that I never thought I would have to do,” Grohl says while battling back tears, with the crowd yelling out words of support for him. 

“I’m gonna try to do it,” he says. “Taylor wrote this song, we used to sing it together, so I’m gonna do it for him tonight,” before launching into an extremely heartfelt rendition of ‘Cold Day In The Sun’ - the song that Taylor would usually sing at live shows. 

Once the song finishes, Grohl signals to the sky as he says “that one was for you Taylor.”

Watch fan-shot-footage of the performance up top, and make sure you have some tissues beside you.

At the show, The Foos gave the concert-debut-treatment to four new tracks off their forthcoming album But Here We Are - the previously released ‘Rescued,’ ‘Under You,’ and ‘Nothing At All,’ as well as the unreleased title track. 

The band also performed 'No Son of Mine' with the addition of Black Sabbath's 'Paranoid' riff in the middle, and Grohl was joined onstage by his eldest daughter Violet to sing 'Shame Shame.'

Check out the full setlist of the gig, as well as some more fan-footage below.

Rescued: 

Dave Grohl introducing Josh freese:

Shame Shame featuring Violet Grohl: 

No Son Of Mine:

Setlist (by Setlist.FM) - 

1. Rescued
2. Walk
3. No Son of Mine 
4. Learn to Fly
5. Times Like These 
6. Under You 
7. The Pretender
8. But Here We Are
9. Breakout
10. The Sky Is a Neighborhood
11. My Here 
12. This Is a Call
13. All My Life
14. Nothing at All 
15. Shame Shame 
16. These Days
17. Cold Day in the Sun
18. Monkey Wrench
19. Best of You
20. Aurora
21. Everlong