The gig followed the LA premiere of Dave Grohl’s Sound City documentary
The all-star gig, which comprised 38 songs, followed the Los Angeles premiere of Sound City, Dave Grohl’s directorial debut. The film concerns the studio of the same name in Van Nuys, California, in which a host of classic albums were made. Joan Jett, Nikki Sixx, Butch Vig and No Doubt’s Tony Kanal were all in attendance, as were all of the performers at the Sound City Players show.
Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine, Rick Springfield, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear of Nirvana and Queens of the Stone Age collaborator Alain Johannes were among the performers on the evening. Foo Fighters played for much of the set, acting as a defacto backing band.
The show was split into sections, which each guest musician playing around four songs, including classic tracks and their contributions to the Sound City soundtrack. Each mini-set was introduced with clips from the Sound City film.
The evening started with Alain Johannes, who included Queens of the Stone Age’s ‘Hanging Tree’ in his set. During the opening songs, Dave Grohl told the crowd at the sold-out gig: “Ladies and gentlemen, we’re gonna be here for a while, just so you know.”
The next guest musicians were Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine and Chris Goss of Masters of Reality, who played their contribution to the ‘Sound City: Real To Reel’ soundtrack, ‘Time Slowing Down’.
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were joined by Grohl on drums for ‘Red Eyes and Tears’ and ‘Whatever Happened To My Rock And Roll’, with bassist and singer Robert Levon Been saying: ‘Its a great honour to be here and share the stage with these people.”
Next up was Lee Ving of punk band Fear, who played the specially composed ‘Your Wife Is Calling’, backed by Foo Fighters, including Taylor Hawkins on drums and Pat Smear on guitar, as well as 1978’s ‘I Love Livin’ In The City’.
Corey Taylor of Slipknot, Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick and Krist Novoselic of Nirvana were the next batch of artists, playing a host of Cheap Trick numbers, including ‘Hello There’, ‘Surrender’ and ‘Ain’t That A Shame’, with Taylor on lead vocals.
Rick Springfield played ‘Love Somebody’ before ending with his classic 1981 hit, ‘Jessie’s Girl’, backed by Foo Fighters, much to Grohl’s obvious delight.
John Fogerty joined the Foo Fighters for a host of Creedence Clearwater Revival songs, including ‘Travelin Band’, ‘Born On The Bayou’, ‘Bad Moon Rising’, ‘Proud Mary’ and ‘Fortunate Son’, the latter of which he shared vocal duties on with Grohl.
Speaking about the musicians playing, Fogerty pointed at Dave Grohl and said that as well as having all recorded in Sound City, “What we got in common is we all love that guy right there.”
Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks was the final guest musician, performing ‘Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around’, with Grohl filling in Tom Petty’s role. She sang new song ‘You Can’t Fix This’, from the soundtrack, which she told the crowd was about her late 18-year-old godson, who last year died of an overdose at a frat party. “In our day, we made a pact not to dance with the devil,” she explained before the track. (Editor’s note: Stevie’s godson is her former manager Glen Parrish’s son.)
Nicks also sang Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ and ‘Landslide’. The evening came to a close with a near-10 minute version of ‘Rumours’ track ‘Gold Dust Woman’ — watch footage of it below.
NME / Friday, February 1, 2013
