FireAid: Watch Nirvana reunite with guest singers Violet Grohl, Kim Gordon, St Vincent and Joan Jett
At FireAid on January 30th in Los Angeles, Nirvana bandmates Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear reunited with a string of guest singers, including Grohl’s daughter Violet Grohl.
While Nirvana weren’t billed to appear at the benefit concert at the KIA Forum, they delighted the crowd with their first performance since they appeared at another charity show at the Hollywood Palladium in 2020.
Nirvana began their four-song set with the assistance of St Vincent, who led the grunge icons through a rendition of ‘Breed’. Next up, they were joined by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon who delivered lead vocals on ‘School’ before Joan Jett sang on ‘Territorial Pissings’. For the final track, Violet Grohl rose to the task and shined on ‘All Apologies’, which also featured Gordon on bass duties.
Since Nirvana first reunited after Kurt Cobain’s death in 2014 for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they have made a deliberate decision to only perform with female singers. At that initial show, they were assisted by the same cast as in Los Angeles on January 30th apart from Violet Grohl replacing Lorde.
At the time, Grohl explained the decision to Rolling Stone: “We thought, ‘Wait, it has to be all women.’ Don’t even ask anyone else. If we can fill the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance with these incredible women singing Nirvana songs, then we’ll have achieved our own revolution.’”
The drummer added: “It also added a whole other dimension to the show. It added substance and depth, so it didn’t turn into a eulogy. It was more about the future.”
Other notable performances that took place at FireAid include Green Day duetting with Billie Eilish on ‘Last Night On Earth’ at the Inuit Dome. After Eilish left the stage, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told the audience during their hour of mourning, “Los Angeles. We are still alive! This is California. And we’re all in this together. From the bottom of our hearts, we love you, Los Angeles, and we’ve got your back no matter what.”
Over the course of the two FireAid benefit concerts, legendary performers such as Joni Mitchell, Stevie Nicks, and Red Hot Chili Peppers also took to the stage in an act of stunning solidarity with Los Angeles in the wake of these horrific fires, which took 28 lives and lost thousands of homes.
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