VIDEO: Beatle Paul McCartney Joins Reunited Nirvana For Hurricane Sandy Benefit, 12-12-12

by UInterviewDecember 13, 2012, 12:00 amNews >

About an hour after midnight last night, music legend Paul McCartney, 70, took the stage at New York’s Madison Square Garden for 12-12-12, the concert to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy, to play with the surviving members of Nirvana.

Bassist Krist Novoselic, 47, and drummer/Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl, 43, teamed up with the iconic Beatle to sing a new song, “Cut Me Some Slack.” Previously in the concert, McCartney played with Diana Krall on “My Valentine.” He also performed Beatles classic “Helter Skelter.”

Before the concert, rumors of a McCartney/Nirvana performance were all over the Internet. While fans throughout the world were salivating over the potential of this collaboration, McCartney was unaware of the significance…at first. “I didn't really know who they were," he said, according to The Huffington Post. “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.”

Kurt is, of course, Kurt Cobain, the legendary lead singer and guitarist who took his own life on April 5, 1994 at the age of 27. Cobain was a lifelong admirer of The Beatles. According to Michael Azzerad’s 1994 book, Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana, Cobain wrote the song, “About a Girl," after repeatedly listening to the album Meet The Beatles.

Grohl was also independently influenced by the Beatles. “When I was young, that’s how I learned how to play music — I had a guitar and a Beatles songbook,” Dave told Access Hollywood in February. “I would listen to the records and play along. Of course, it didn’t sound like the Beatles, but it got me to understand song structure and melody and harmony and arrangement.”

Watch the video of McCartney jamming with Nirvana at 12-12-12 here: