Nirvana Reunites With St. Vincent, Kim Gordon, Joan Jett & Violet Grohl on Vocals

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 in Inglewood, California, 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.

Among the many highlights of the six-hour FireAid benefit concert held at the Kia Forum and Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., on Thursday, Jan. 30, was an unexpected appearance from the remaining members of Nirvana.

The lights dimmed and the musicians took their places without an announcement, so you knew something was up.

And sure enough, once the lights came back up, the group — drummer Dave Grohl, bassist Krist Novoselic and guitarist Pat Smear — were joined by none other than St. Vincent, a reprisal of a Nirvana supergroup that hadn’t performed live since 2014.

What was especially wild was that of the four songs they played, three — “Breed,” “School,” and “Territorial Pissings” — weren’t exactly the mainstream radio hits that launched Nirvana to stardom, but some of the more aggressive material the late Kurt Cobain and his colleagues released prior to “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”