Foo Fighters honor Nirvana with The Vaselines’ ‘Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam’ cover at BottleRock

Foo Fighters  have covered  The Vaselines ’ ‘Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam’ – a song famously performed by Nirvana .

- READ MORE: Foo Fighters – ‘Your Favorite Toy’ review: back to brawny basics

The song was released by the cult Scottish indie band in 1988 on their ‘Dying For It’ EP and was brought to international attention when covered by Nirvana on their legendary ‘MTV Unplugged In New York’ live album in 1994, under the tweaked title ‘Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam’.

On Saturday (May 23),  Dave Grohl , who played on the ‘MTV Unplugged’ version, revisited the song when he led the Foos in a rendition during their set at BottleRock Napa Valley in California.

It was the first time Foo Fighters had ever played the song live, and it came in a show that also saw ‘Aurora’ being dedicated to the late Foos drummer  Taylor Hawkins  and a slow version of ‘Big Me’ dedicated to Grohl’s wife Jordyn Blum.

Watch Foos’ version of ‘Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam’, as well as Nirvana’s take and The Vaselines’ original, here:

In 2012,  Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic joined The Vaselines themselves to play accordion on the song  at Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival.

Foo Fighters released their 12th studio album ‘Your Favorite Toy’ last month.  NME  gave it three-and-a-half stars and noted : “Vocally, Grohl has rediscovered his roar, but lyricism has never been his strongest suit, and much of it here is throwaway; those looking for signs of where his head is at after his  infidelity scandal  two years ago will be largely disappointed.

“‘Your Favorite Toy’ is a few more tracks of that depth away from being the most vital Foo Fighters record since 1997’s ‘The Colour and the Shape’. For now, at least, they have remembered that no-frills punk, played fast and loud, suits them much better than middle-of-the-road dad-rock.”

They will be playing  a European stadium tour that is set to include two nights at Liverpool’s Anfield Stadium  at the end of June. They will also  be playing a range of major European shows ,  a North American stadium tour , and have announced  an Australian and New Zealand tour for late 2026 and early 2027 .

Any remaining tickets for all shows on the Foo Fighters’ US tour are available  here  and for UK and Europe shows, you can find tickets  here .

They also played  an intimate  Tiny Desk Concert  show  recently,  appeared on  SNL UK , and endured spicy wings and revealed their cringiest lyrics on  Hot Ones .

The post Watch Foo Fighters follow in Nirvana’s footsteps by covering The Vaselines’ ‘Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam’ at BottleRock appeared first on NME .

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