McCartney plays alongside former Nirvana members

Among the amazing performances from the 12-12-12 Benefit Concert for Hurricane Sandy victims, the reunion of the surviving members of the 90’s band Nirvana led by Paul McCartney is the most talked about.

Prior to the Wednesday night broadcast, Nirvana’s frontman Kurt Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, spilled the beans about the performance to Billboard. Producers held out the anticipated act until the last minutes of the six hour broadcast.

Paul McCartney didn’t hit the stage until after midnight. McCartney announced later in his act, “Recently, some guys asked me to jam with them. So, I showed up ready to jam, and in the middle of it these guys say they haven’t played in years …I finally understood that I was in the middle of a Nirvana reunion!” He then introduced the group member David Grohl, now frontman of multi-platinum selling Foo Fighters, Krist Noveselic, Pat Smear, who also plays in the band Foo Fighters.

The performance opened with a mash up original combining McCartney’s harder Beatles/Wings compositions with Nirvana’s melodic edge. Following the opening, the group surprised the crowd by not playing a Nirvana classic, but the Smear, Grohl, and Novoselic, exited the stage to allow McCartney to close up his show with two more of his own songs.

Music fans also enjoyed performances by Kanye West, the Rolling Stones, and Alicia Keys.

Shanika Simmons