How strange and how beautiful that the already packed line-up for tonight’s 12/12/12 Hurricane Sandy relief concert in New York City will also feature a Nirvana reunion, as Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic, and Pat Smear will perform on stage together for the first time in twenty years. There is, however, the obvious void left by Kurt Cobain, whose suicide in 1994 still casts a heavy shadow on the trailblazing band’s heart and legacy. Luckily, tonight’s show will not seek to replace Cobain with a mere imitator. It will not seek to replace him at all. Instead, Sir Paul McCartney has been recruited to sing a new song with the band, making him an honorary member to yet another groundbreaking ensemble.
It is reported that McCartney has been secretly working with Novoselic and Grohl for a while now, amusingly not even recognizing what it implied.
“I didn’t really know who they were,” McCartney says. “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 somebody whispered to me: ‘That’s Nirvana. You’re Kurt.’ I couldn’t believe it.’”
Neither can we, but this is hopefully history in the making, as Sir Paul is one of the rare few of his generation to have remained noteworthy for decades and decades, having reached the pinnacle of his career almost fifty years ago. Since then, he has attained every feasible honor a musician can achieve, and “honorary Nirvana member” seems like a sensational next step.
The four-and-a-half-hour concert tonight will also feature performances by Bruce Springsteen, Roger Waters, Eric Clapton, the Who, the Rolling Stones, as well as Eddie Vedder, Kanye West, Billy Joel, Chris Martin, and Alicia Keys.
Update: Krist Novoselic just tweeted the following at 12:12 on 12/12/12:
It is a new song that’s kind of Helter Skelter meets Scentless Apprentice. It rocks with a heavy groove. St. Paul is powerful. @pontifex
— Krist Novoselic (@KristNovoselic) December 12, 2012
