As expected, the Foo Fighters delivered a brief Nirvana reunion for fans at their Cal Jam 2018 Festival.
Just last month, the surviving members of Nirvana once again teamed up for a brief reunion performance in Seattle, however, this was far from the most high-profile reunion the group have undertaken.
On April 10th, 2014, Nirvana were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. While the ceremony also saw the famously combative Courtney Love burying the hatchet with Dave Grohl, fans also got to see the surviving members of the group play under the Nirvana name for the first time in almost 20 years.
The ceremony featured four songs being performed by Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear, alongside guest vocalists Joan Jett, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, St. Vincent, and Lorde. Needless to say, fans were stoked to see such a performance, but the good news wasn’t over just yet.
Hours later, under 250 people packed into a crowded bar in Brooklyn to witness the first full Nirvana set in 20 years. Featuring 19 tracks performed alongside Joan Jett, Kim Gordon, St. Vincent, Dinosaur Jr.’s J Mascis, and Deer Tick’s John McAuley, the set was well-and-truly FOMO inducing.
Fast-forward four years and the Foo Fighters got everyone excited earlier this week when they teased the possibility of a Nirvana reunion at the 2018 edition of Cal Jam.
With Krist Novoselic’s Giants In The Trees on the bill, alongside Joan Jett and Deer Tick, things were looking up. Now, another long-awaited reunion has taken place.
Coming at the end of the Foo Fighters’ set on Saturday night, Loudwire notes that the group raised excitement by broadcasting footage of the backstage area prior to their final set. As fans cheered in anticipation, the camera soon showed Joan Jett and John McAuley, who accompanied the band back onto the main stage.
With John McAuley performing first, he ran through renditions of the In Utero cuts ‘Serve The Servants’ and ‘Scentless Apprentice’, before diving into the Nevermind single ‘In Bloom’.
Following his appearance, Joan Jett took to the stage, performing ‘Breed’, ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and wrapping things up with a rendition of ‘All Apologies’.
Fan footage of the performance is slowly trickling in, but like the 2014 Nirvana reunion, we can only hope that this one was professionally recorded as well.
Check out footage of the Foo Fighters’ Nirvana reunion:
Foo Fighters @ Cal Jam 18, California, USA 06/10/2018 Setlist
‘Run’
‘The Sky Is A Neighborhood’
‘La Dee Da’
‘Sunday Rain’
‘Something From Nothing’
‘Walk’
‘These Days’
‘Arlandria’
‘The Pretender’
‘Best Of You’
‘Times Like These’
‘All My Life’
‘Learn To Fly’
‘My Hero’
‘Everlong’
‘Monkey Wrench’
‘For All The Cows’
‘This Is A Call’
Encore:
‘Serve The Servants’ (Nirvana cover) (with John McCauley)
‘Scentless Apprentice’ (Nirvana cover) (with John McCauley)
‘In Bloom’ (Nirvana cover) (with John McCauley)
‘Breed’ (Nirvana cover) (with Joan Jett)
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’(Nirvana cover) (with Joan Jett)
‘All Apologies’ (Nirvana cover) (with Joan Jett)
