Tonight (12) is the Concert for Sandy Relief at New York’s Madison Square Garden. And it’s going to have one of the strangest lineups in recent history, namely Sir Paul McCartney playing with the remainder of Nirvana. According to UK newspaper The Sun, McCartney called Dave Grohl to help out for the concert for hurricane relief. The paper says that Grohl suggested he come and “jam with some mates.” Those mates included Krist Novoselic and Nirvana (and Foo Fighters) touring member Pat Smear.
So yeah, Nirvana with Paul McCartney playing the part of Kurt Cobain. Here’s where it gets weird. The paper says that McCartney had no idea that he was walking into a reunion. They quote him as saying “I didn’t really know who they were. They are saying how good it is to be back together. I said ‘Whoa, you guys haven’t played together for all that time?’ And someone whispered to me ‘that’s Nirvana. You’re Kurt.’ I couldn’t believe it.”
It’s definitely going to be interesting, but it might be an interesting train wreck. It’s hard to imagine McCartney singing “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” And there’s no guarantee that’s going to happen, as the article suggests that they’ll be playing a new song. While Novoselic has played with the Foo Fighters before, performing on a song on Wasting Light, and occasionally popping up with the Foos onstage, this will be the most high profile gig the surviving members have played. But with Pearl Jam also playing tonight, wouldn’t it have possibly made more sense to have Eddie Vedder pop up with them? Oh well, we’ll be watching. And if you want to give for a good cause, you can donate here. (BTW, Vedder is apparently going to sing “Comfortably Numb” with Roger Waters).
