With the 12.12.12 Charity Benefit concert streaming live right now (which you can view in the banner) from New York City’s Madison Square Garden, kicking off at 7.30pm ET (11.30am AEDT), speculation is still rife as to what superstar collaborations music fans can expect from the charity gig.
The star-filled list of acts raising money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy via the Robin Hood Relief Fund is impressive to say the least, featuring the recently Australian bound Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Kanye West, endearing Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, guitar god Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd bassist Roger Waters, Chris Martin of Coldplay.
But the moment everyone’s waiting for, after yesterday’s ridiculous news, is the closing performance from Sir Paul McCartney, with rumours quickly spreading that the legendary ex-Beatle would be replacing Kurt Cobain to front a Nirvana reunion with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, original bassist Krist Novoselic, and on/off Nirvana/Foo guitarist Pat Smear.
The questionable source? UK paper The Sun, who alleged that the 70-year-old Macca’s set would conclude with a single Nirvana tribute following ‘secret’ rehearsals between McCartney and the surviving members of the grunge band. “It is a new song that’s kind of Helter Skelter meets Scentless Apprentice.”
– Krist Novoselic, Nirvana bassist
According to The Sun, Sir Paul said he rang Grohl, inviting him to come “jam with some mates.” McCartney responded by suggesting they “just make something up” and ended up playing with the drummer, Novosleic and Smear in an unnamed rehearsal space.
“I didn’t really know who they were. They are saying how good it is to be back together,” McCartney allegedly says. “I said ‘Whoa? You guys haven’t played together for all that time?… And somebody whispered to me ‘That’s Nirvana. You’re Kurt.’ I couldn’t believe it.”
As already speculated, the story seemed far-fetched, but it turns out that the rumour is half-true, with Rolling Stone confirming that the 12.12.12. Sandy benefit show will indeed conclude with McCartney performing with a little help from “Dave Grohl and Friends”, including jazz singer (and Mrs. Elvis Costello) Diana Krall – according to an official rundown of the show.
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Many will be relieved at the news that those Nirvana rumours seemed too good (or bad) to be true, spared the visage of McCartney lathering his sweet croon over ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’; but given the pedigree of those involved, there’s still plenty to get excited about.
Especially given that the all-star supergroup will instead be performing a brand new song, as Bassist Krist Novoselic confirmed, taking to his twitter to clarify some of the hearsay:
https://twitter.com/KristNovoselic/status/278955503294504960
Fuse.tv also reported backstage from the soundcheck held at New York’s Madison Square garden yesterday that McCartney’s rehearsal contained several “awesomely special guests” and that the Liverpudlian “played two songs from a certain self-titled Beatles album… He even delved deep into his catalog, delivering a non-single Wings track.”
It won’t be the first time the A-listers have rubbed shoulders, Grohl and McCartney have jammed together several times in public, usually to the tunes of the Fab Four or Wings’ ‘Band On The Run’; most recently at this year’s Grammys where they traded licks with Springsteen and guitarist Joe Walsh over a Beatles medley.
Rolling Stone also confirmed that the 12.12.12. concert will also feature a high-profile collaboration between Roger Waters and Eddie Vedder. The Pink Floyd bassist letting slip on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon that the Pearl Jam vocalist would be helping out on a rendition of ‘Comfortably Numb’.
All will be revealed in a couple of hours, when the 12.12.12. Benefit concert is broadcast live across 37 US TV networks and simultaneously on 27 websites via 121212concert.org
We’ll keep updated on the Beatles/Nirvana mash-up and other performance highlights as they come.
