Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada of the Black Pumas spoke with ET on the red carpet at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards.
Eric Burton and Adrian Quesada of the Black Pumas are opening up about performing at the same music festival in Colombia that the Foo Fighters were set to play the night Taylor Hawkins died.
The entertainers walked the red carpet at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards on Sunday, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, and they spoke with ET's Kevin Frazier and Nischelle Turner about Hawkins' untimely death.
"It's super heavy," Quesada shared. "We were actually playing the same festival as them the night he passed in Colombia, and when we found out the news, Eric and I actually had to come out onto the stage and announce it to the crowd."
The event was the Festival Estereo Picnic in Bogotá, Colombia, on March 25. Hawkins died in his hotel room that evening at the age of 50.
"Eric led a moment of silence," Quesada shared. "So it was a heavy, emotional night all around, and we have so much love for them and their family."
Looking back at the moment of silence, Burton explained that it's "generally really tough" for a musician to come out and connect with an audience under any circumstances.
"But when Taylor Hawkins passes an hour before you go on, and in a land where you don't necessarily speak the language -- outside of the universal language that is music -- it was heart-wrenching," Burton recalled. "Yet still very encouraging in the way that music has a beautiful way of healing."
"I remember we did a live festival once where he sat on the side of the stage for the entire show, and greeted us afterward," Burton recalled of the rocker. "He was always very gracious, and out hearts go out to his family. Taylor was amazing."
As for the Black Pumas, the group is nominated for two GRAMMYs this year, including Best Rock Performance and Best Rock Album for Capitol Cuts - Live From Studio A. Burton said that the recognition, and getting to attend the star-studded show "means truly everything."
"Every day is a surprise in Black Pumas land, and this is one of them," Quesada added with a smile.
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