The surviving members of Nirvana weren’t part of the official FireAid bill, but they took the stage near the end of the Kia Forum show to tear through “Breed” with St. Vincent, “School” with Kim Gordon, “Territorial Pissings” with Joan Jett, and “All Apologies” with Violet Grohl, the 18-year-old daughter of Dave Grohl.
Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear dissolved Nirvana after Kurt Cobain’s death in 1994, but they came back together in 2012 to record “Cut Me Some Slack” with Paul McCartney. Two years later, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they performed with St Vincent, Kim Gordon, Joan Jett, and Lorde. Later that night, they played an extended set at at the tiny Brooklyn club St. Vitus. They last took the stage together in 2018 at Cal Jam in San Bernardino, California.
Nearly every time they’ve played since Cobain’s death, a female singer was brought in to sing his words. The idea came to them early in their rehearsals for the Hall of Fame in 2014. “We thought, ‘Wait, it has to be all women,’” Grohl told Rolling Stone that year. “‘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.’ 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.”
The initial rehearsals were incredibly emotional. “The first time we played together, it was like seeing a ghost,” Grohl said. “The second time, it was a little more reserved. And the last time we played it was like that fucking Demi Moore/Patrick Swayze pottery wheel scene from Ghost. We usually got the song by the third take. It started to sound like Nirvana. Our road crew and some friends were in the room when we launched into ‘Scentless Apprentice’ for the first time. There were jaws on the floor.”
At the time, they had no idea if they’d ever play together again. “That’s a good question,” Novoselic told Rolling Stone. “I mean, there’s Foo Fighters and Dave has some other projects going on. And I have some commitments. But you never say never now. We did it. I sure won’t say no. Maybe we can even do some new music one day.”
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