Villa Park Taylor Hawkins Vigil
On the evening the Foo Fighters were originally due to grace Villa Park, as part of their four-date ‘Return to the UK’ stadium tour, a small gathering of around 20 Foo Fighter fans gathered at the stadium to hold a vigil for the band’s late drummer Taylor Hawkins.
At the corner of the North Stand and Trinity Stand, the fans brought flowers and candles and sang along to Foo Fighter songs while they paid their respects.
MOMS saw them, when at Villa Park attending the latest Villa Fan Consultation Group meeting, to see photos and plans for the North Stand redevelopment, and discuss the project with Aston Villa’s Head of Estates Development and an architect working on the project.
In the 24/7 news cycle, where events come and go, and are soon forgotten, it was sweet to see the Foo Fighter fans take the trouble to make the trip to Villa Park (from all around the country) to honour a timeline that was set to happen, before the sad event robbed Villa Park of what surely would have been a memorable night for thousands of music fans.
Speaking of timelines, both Dave Grohl and Courtney Barnett (the Foo’s scheduled chief support for Villa Park), had played at Glastonbury Festival on the weekend just gone. Had the Foo Fighter’s UK tour gone ahead, Grohl’s special guest appearance during Paul McCartney’s Saturday night headlining slot, would never have happened, as the Foo Fighters were originally meant to play Old Trafford Cricket ground on that Saturday night (Barnett, however, wasn’t supporting the Foo’s in Manchester).
Future Music Venue Plans
Ironically, part of the discussion surrounding the North Stand expansion (more on that soon), was the desire to make Villa Park a more desirable big summer concert venue. Concerts have been far too infrequent at the stadium, which has seen the likes of Barry White, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Duran Duran and Take That perform over the past few decades.
It would certainly be a boost to the area and Birmingham if Villa Park was hosting such gigs at least once a summer.
The prospect of the proposed separate ‘Villa Live’ building, as previously reported, will give Villa Park a sister venue capable of hosting music concerts up to around 2,800 people.
So, hopefully the music fans that came to pay tribute to Taylor Hawkins on Monday evening, will have many more reasons to come back.
UTV
