TRAVIS BARKER paid tribute to ADAM ‘DJ AM’ GOLDSTEIN onstage and in heartfelt internet messages on Saturday (29Aug09) – a day after his friend was found dead from a suspected drug overdose.
Grieving Barker dedicated his concert with Blink-182 in Hartford, Connecticut to Goldstein, his partner in hip-hop-rock duo TRV$DJAM and his fellow survivor of a harrowing plane crash last year (08).
Before taking the stage at the Comcast Theatre, the drummer wrote on his Twitter.com page, “Don’t know how i am gonna play 2night but i am for AM.
“My brother is gone. i love u (sic) and miss u, i’ll never forget all the good times we had.
“He later added, “I’ll never forget everything we’ve been thru (sic) and every time i play the drums i’ll think of you. U (sic) were an amazing friend/DJ/human being… Rest In Peace my brother, this really f**ks me up.
“Barker skipped his usual drum solo during Blink-182’s encore and instead bassist Mark Hoppus asked for the arena’s house lights to be turned off and for a moment of silence for their friend, before launching into an emotional rendition of their song Down.
Hoppus fought back tears as he told the audience, “We truly hope that you’re all having a good time tonight. But this night’s really hard for the three of us up here onstage and for a lot of our crew as well because we lost a really dear friend yesterday. His name is Adam Goldstein.
“He was an innovator and he was a genius and he loved music more than any other person on this planet and above all, he was an amazing friend. So we’re doing as best we can to get through tonight but right now I’d like to take down the lights and have a moment of silence for our friend Adam. Thank you all very much.”