Red Hot Chili Peppers have stepped in for Foo Fighters on this year’s New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival line-up, after the latter band cancelled all their forthcoming live appearances in the wake of the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins.

After the coronavirus pandemic halted the festival for two years running, the event returns to the southern city this year from April 29 to May 8.

Stevie Nicks, The Who and Willie Nelson will headline proceedings, with The Black Crowes, Jason Isbell, Elvis Costello, Death Cab For Cutie, Norah Jones, Randy Newman and Kool & The Gang among many others also on the line-up.

Red Hot Chili Peppers Added to the Jazz Fest Lineup on Sunday, May 1!
Also don’t miss The Who, Stevie Nicks, Jimmy Buffett, Luke Combs, Lionel Richie, The Black Crowes and hundreds more, April 29 – May 8. Tickets on sale at https://t.co/siDGJzjRZf. #jazzfest@ChiliPeppers pic.twitter.com/pqFHjHgvHm

— New Orleans JazzFest (@jazzfest) April 8, 2022

Nicks, The Who and Foo Fighters had been scheduled to perform as headliners in 2020 before the pandemic forced the festival’s postponement.

In 2021, the emergence of the Delta variant meant that the festival – whose line-up again boasted Foo Fighters along with Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys and Dead & Company – was cancelled entirely.

Last week, Red Hot Chili Peppers’ drummer Chad Smith shared a video tribute to Hawkins. In it, comical exchanges occur between the pair, with interview snippets and performances cut into the visual.

Playing out to Foo Fighters’ classic ‘My Hero’, Smith is seen in the video’s opening partaking in an old interview, saying: “Taylor’s my good buddy, who I’ve known forever.”

At the ‘Californication’ band’s Hollywood Walk Of Fame ceremony that same week, Smith gave a shout out to Hawkins, saying: “I love you, Taylor. He would laugh and make a smart ass comment about this whole thing.”