Why Dave Grohl only wants female singers to front Nirvana reunions
A ‘Hervana’ performance at the FireAid benefit concert in California was met with a rapturous reception from fans of the Nineties rock band
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Your support makes all the difference.The charity FireAid concert played host to the closest thing the world will see to a Nirvana reunion, as the band’s surviving members teamed up with a rotating cast of female rock artists for a set of songs such as “Breed” and “Territorial Pissings”.
Held at the Inuit Dome in Inglewood, California, the event was put together in aid of those affected by the devastating California wildfires, with performances from Billie Eilish, Green Day, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dr Dre, Joni Mitchell, Katy Perry, Stevie Wonder, Olivia Rodrigo, Pink and Stevie Nicks.
For rock fans, the biggest surprise of the night was the unexpected reunion of Nirvana members Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic, with guest vocalists stepping in for the late Kurt Cobain.
St Vincent growled her way through Nevermind classic “Breed”, complete with some serious guitar shredding, while Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, a longtime friend of the band, took on lead vocals for “School”.
Meanwhile, Joan Jett led a raucous rendition of “Territorial Pissings” while Grohl’s own daughter, Violet, sang “All Apologies” from the group’s final album, In Utero.
St Vincent, Jett and Gordon previously fronted the band when Nirvana were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014, leading to the unofficial name “Hervana”.
Grohl, Novoselic and Smear dissolved Nirvana following Cobain’s death in 1994, but have performed together on a number of occasions. Nearly every time, a female singer (or several) has been brought on to perform the late artist’s words, an idea Grohl said came to them around the Rock Hall of Fame ceremony.
“We thought, ‘Wait, it has to be all women,” he told Rolling Stone at the time. “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.’”
He 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.”
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Fan reactions to the FireAid show have been overwhelmingly positive, with many growing emotional at the performance.
“Wait this is the coolest thing I’ve seen today,” one person wrote on X/Twitter, quote-tweeting footage of Violet Grohl’s appearance.
“Beautiful moment in rock history I just stumbled upon on TV,” another fan wrote, adding a crying emoji.
Many more said they had been given “goosebumps” while watching the show.
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