Every Singer Who Has Performed With Nirvana Since Kurt Cobain's Death

For years, a Nirvana “reunion” seemed like an unthinkable prospect. How could a central figure like Kurt Cobain ever be replaced? That's like replacing Jimi Hendrix in The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Then the 2014 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame happened. Nirvana was being sworn into those hallowed halls. As is tradition, the Hall of Fame asked the band to perform – and much to everyone's surprise, they accepted the offer.

Since then, we've had a smattering of Nirvana “reunions” – although the band's performances are less reunions proper, so much as heartfelt (heart-shaped?) tributes to Kurt Cobain's legacy, along with the surviving members of the band and their capacity to lend charity to some worthwhile causes. These “Nirvana” shows have been fun, unexpected, and carried out with a great love for both the band's songs, as well as their influence on music as a whole.

Replacing the irreplaceable is an impossible task, but luckily, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear have wisely chosen to never quite do that and instead offer up a number of guests starts whenever they've been called to action.

1 Post Malone

Post Malone joined Nirvana ('Post-Nirvana') for SNL50

NBC's sketch comedy institution Saturday Night Live celebrated its 50th anniversary on February 14, 2025, and in a night full of surprises, one of the most bewildering was bad boy/rapper/attention-grabber Post Malone taking the stage with Nirvana to deliver a performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit."

Adam Sandler introduced the band, which he dubbed 'Post-Nirvana,' before a guitar-strapped (and ZZ Top-bearded) Post Malone headed to the mic, puffing on a cigarette (Hey! You can't do that in here!). Dave Grohl and Co. took to their respective instruments, all seemingly giddy at the prospect of wigging the folks at home with a melding of rock, hick-hop, and the totally unexpected.

Malone's ciggy disappeared in time to deliver the opening lines of the band's biggest hit: “Load up on guns, bring your friends,” he sang with a Southern twinge to his voice. The band sounded as good as ever, playing their old favorite with some added fresh intensity. Malone? While his vocals were more marble-mouthed than even Kurt Cobain, making the song's enigmatic lyrics even more undecipherable, he kinda rocked the bleep out, gaining momentum as the song progressed just in time to belt out the song's strenuous vocal crescendo.

The audience seemed to love it – so did the band. There's been some debate online about whether the pairing was an outright travesty to the legacy of Nirvana or simply an entertaining spin on the band's penchant for the absurd and the unpredictable. It's likely both or none of those things and instead, it was what it was: loud, fun, kinda dumb, but also super entertaining.

2 Joan Jett

The Runaways Frontwoman Joined Nirvana at The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014

Joan Jett is an undisputed rock icon. From her years as a teenage guitar hero for The Runaways to her work with her band, The Blackhearts (and their everlasting hits "I Love Rock N' Roll" and "Bad Reputation"), she's been a part of rock n' roll history since she was barely old enough to drive.

While Joan Jett predates punk, she's always had a hand in its lineage. She famously produced the sole album of legendary Los Angeles punk band, The Germs (featuring a pre-Nirvana Pat Smear on guitar) and was cool enough to work with riot grrrl pioneers Bikini Kill, who counted Cobain's ex Tobi Vail among their ranks.

Cooler than all that? Jett jumped right in when Seattle punk band (and Nirvana peers) The Gits tragically lost their frontwoman, Mia Zapata, in a grim 1993 homicide. Jett and The Gits joined forces to pay tribute to Zapata in the form of benefit concerts for “Home Alive,” a non-profit self-defense group, as well as a memorial album entitled Evilstig.

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All this made the rock legend an obvious choice for the surviving members of Nirvana to pick for their induction into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Jett said of the experience that it was both “very humbling and scary to be asked, but as a fan, there was no way I could say no.”

Good thing she didn't, despite being "scared s---less" (her words); the Jett-fronted Nirvana rendition of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" seers with punk energy is 100% representative of Nirvana's punk rock origins and ethos. Kurt would would have approved.

Nirvana has subsequently tapped The Blackheart herself to perform with them several times since, both at Cal Jam 18 and at the recent FireAid.

3 Beck

This "Loser" Played with Nirvana Twice

When Beck's "Loser" dropped in 1993, there was a smattering of “lookalike” assertions in the press. Beck Hanson quite rightly does resemble Kurt Cobain. Not only that, they shared two labels in common (K Records, the logo of which Kurt had tattooed on his left arm, and DGC, which released music by both Nirvana and Beck). Outside his early work, Beck didn't have much of a “grunge” sound, as he quickly embraced hip-hop beats with his own brand of country-psychedelia replete with his signature sing-spoken deep vocals.

Despite the blonde mop-top and boy-next-door good looks, Beck isn't the most obvious choice to front Nirvana, but then again, Nirvana isn't the most obvious of bands. The surviving members of Nirvana have tapped Beck twice to play with the band, starting with a quite beautiful acoustic rendition of Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" using Kurt's arrangement at a pre-Grammy party in 2016 thrown by record producer Clive Davis.

During 2020's Art of Elysium event, Nirvana took the stage with Beck a second time – this time delivering renditions of “In Bloom” and “About A Son” with an electric guitar in hand.

4 St. Vincent

Annie Clark Sang with Nirvana in 2014 and 2025

When art rock demigod Annie Clark dropped her debut album as St. Vincent in 2007, it would be only seven years until she was tapped to front Nirvana at their induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. Quite the ask for any young musician, but like Joan Jett, St. Vincent immediately understood the emblematic point of being chosen for the job.

Taking the stage with the band in Brooklyn, the singer/guitarist cut a deep impression with her trademark blonde shock of hair and rather emotional interpretation of the quiet-loud “In Bloom.” The song's famous lyrics are loaded with an acerbic attack on the band's then crop of new, misogynist fans: “He's the one, who likes all our pretty songs. And he likes to sing along. And he likes to shoot his gun. But he knows not what it means.”

That performance was solid, but it was only a glimpse of what would come a decade later, as St. Vincent again took the stage with Nirvana once again to deliver a loud, messy, and completely true-to-form performance of Nevermind stomper "Breed" at the 2025 Fire-Aid Benefit. While far from technically perfect, the performance seemed spot-on, with the spotty mic outages harking back to Nirvana's half-crazed live gigs where the band was always seemingly one step away from self-implosion (in a good way).

5 Kim Gordon

The Sonic Youth Singer Knew Kurt Cobain Best

New York's Sonic Youth were a sister band to Nirvana. Not only did they tour together and share a label, Sonic Youth band members Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon even helped the band get signed to Geffen Records for 1991's Nevermind.

Out of all the musicians that have guested for the revived Nirvana gigs, Gordon knew Kurt Cobain best. While most modern musicians bow in blind reverence towards Nirvana, Gordon had a true understanding of the band's art-damaged sensibilities: “[Kurt] could play really well, but he didn't want to play well because that wasn't punk rock,” she wrote in her 2015 biography Girl In A Band.

So any audience members dismissing the revived Nirvana performances as sloppy and irrelevant are missing the point: Kurt would have wanted it that way.

Gordon joined the band for their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction and absolutely slayed with her glass-sharp vocals on the classic “Aneurysm.”

Ten years later, she came back to the fold and screamed her way through "Breed," "School," and "Territorial Pissings" at Fire-Aid, adding her killer drone guitar to the mix and displaying a complete understanding of what made Nirvana's most fiery tracks spine-tinglingly awesome.

6 Lorde

The New Zealand "Royal" Fronted Nirvana in 2014

At their Rock & Roll Hall of Fame ceremony, Nirvana ended their performance with a surprise appearance by pop star Lorde. An oddball choice for sure, but somehow fitting.

The pop side of Nirvana is as prevalent in their music as their punk half, so inviting the enigmatic New Zealand songstress for a stripped-down take on "All Apologies" seems like an appropriate nod to Cobain's unabashed love of pop music.

If anything, the collaboration (with Joan Jett, St. Vincent, and Kim Gordon joining in as Krist Novoselic plays accordion) recalls another one of Nirvana's main influences: REM. It's a soft but alluring take on the song that grows with multiple listens. Lorde did great. It makes you wish the band recorded a studio version, as it would make the perfect end-credit song for an indie flick with grunge sensibilities.

7 John McCauley (Deer Tick)

John McCauley was tapped for the reunited Nirvana's Cal Jam 18

Deer Tick is a cult indie rock band from Providence, Rhode Island. Those who know... Well, they know. Apparently, someone in the Nirvana camp knows, because frontman for Deer Tick (and the awesome garage rock supergroup Diamond Rugs) John McCauley was fingered for the reunited Nirvana's Cal Jam 18 set and, boy, did he deliver!

The McCauley-fronted Nirvana blazed through "In Bloom," "Serve the Servants," and "Scentless Apprentice" with pitch-perfect abandon: it genuinely sounds close to the real thing and any real-deal Nirvana fan would be remiss to find fault with the performance. It rules, it rocks, and if Nirvana ever wanted to tour the world, well... I'm not saying it should happen, but if it did, McCauley proved himself a worthwhile candidate for the job.

The 2018 gig wasn't the first time the Deer Ticker played with Nirvana. There was also a 19-song secret set in 2014 at the 300-seat venue St. Vitus in Brooklyn, where he guested along with Dinosaur Jr.'s J Mascis, Joan Jett, St. Vincent, and Kim Gordon. Only a lucky few saw that set, but at Cal Jam 18, the world got to hear what we missed out on then...

Of the event, lifelong Nirvana superfan McCauley told Alternative Nation: "It was really heavy stuff. You could see that it was bringing up a lot of mixed emotions for Dave and Krist [Novoselic] when we were rehearsing the songs earlier that day. Being in the middle of that was a really special place, and something I will never forget."

8 Violet Grohl

Dave Grohl's Daughter Was Just 13

Dave Grohl's daughter, the then 13-year-old Violet Grohl, performed "Heart-Shaped Box" at Nirvana's Art of Elysium gig in 2020. It was a sweet gesture to keep the band's legacy in the family, and considering the pressure of the task at hand (my 13 year-old-self would have run screaming), she did great. For the audience, it was as much of a treat watching the band play the song as it was watching a teenager get through it.

By the time Violet took the stage again at 2025's FireAid in Los Angeles for "All Apologies," she was a seasoned pro, delivering an even more confident, raucous version of the Nirvana hit. Her harmonies with her pop in the song's “All in all is all we are” end refrain gives the track an added bit of emotional resonance that wasn't lost on the band, nor the audience.

9 Paul McCartney

'Sirvana' Featured A Beatle

If you're going to reunite your band, you might as well do it with a Beatle. While Sir Paul McCartney hasn't ever totally stepped into Kurt Cobain's pair of Converse All-Stars, he and the surviving members of Nirvana collaborated on the track "Cut Me Some Slack," written for Dave Grohl's documentary film Sound City. The song marked the first time Grohl, Novoselic, and Smear had performed together on stage in nearly two decades.

Unofficially dubbed 'Sirvana,' the band performed "Cut" three times (including a performance on Saturday Night Live, as well as a tour stop in Seattle during a McCartney solo show), but it's the song's searing hot debut that remains its most cutting: at the Concert For Sandy Relief, benefiting victims of Hurricane Sandy. Catharsis reigned supreme on 12-12-12 when the former members of Nirvana took the stage at Madison Square Garden alongside The Fab One. Together, they brought the house down with a blistering rendition of a new track few people had heard by that point.

Not exactly a Nirvana reunion – in fact, it was something even better. The Beatles-obsessed Kurt Cobain would've approved.