Musicians take a moment in concert to reflect on loss of Friends star Matthew Perry
Since being found dead in his Los Angeles home on Saturday, news of the passing of beloved Friends star Matthew Perry has reverberated throughout the entertainment industry, bringing about an outpouring of grief for the fifty-four year-old actor.
In music, the courses of at least two concerts were changed in the wake of the announcement.
Playing Melbourne’s Margaret Court Arena, Friends superfan Charlie Puth performed a rendition of “I’ll Be There For You” by The Rembrandts, the sit-com’s theme tune throughout its ten seasons.
The song was propelled to great commercial success by its usage in Friends, echoed here by the crowd singing its words and clapping its hand-claps while Puth sits at the piano playing its chords.
Puth has said that he is often compared to Perry’s character in the series Chandler Bing, and joked ahead of the 2021 Friends reunion special that he could “play Chandler’s long lost son.”
In tribute to Perry, after covering The Rembrandts, Puth devoted a performance of his and Wiz Khalifa’s hit single “See You Again”, which has become one of popular music’s principal songs of mourning since its 2015 release.
Sadness over Perry’s passing was also expressed in concert by Adele, who briefly paused this Saturday’s instalment of her Las Vegas residency to dedicate a few words to the actor.
In the casual speech, Adele said that she had “never met him in [her] life”, but told of her fondness for Perry’s portrayal of Chandler on Friends, saying that her childhood friend’s impression of the character was always cause for laughter when “any of [her and her friends] were having a bad day or feeling low,” and that they were some her “favourite memories.”
Of Matthew Perry, Adele said that “he was so open with his struggles, with addiction and sobriety, which I find incredibly brave.”
The British balladeer then performed her 2015 hit single “When We Were Young” as a tribute to the late actor.
Words By Harrison Jones.
