Dave Grohl's 'Sound City' Nirvana: SXSW 2013 Show Attracts All-Star Cast to Perform

"Ladies and gentleman, it's going to be a long fucking night," suggested Dave Grohl at the onset of his marathon Sound City Players SXSW set. "Buckle up." The Foo Fighters frontman was not effin' kidding.

Three-and-one-half hours later, Grohl and a host of famous friends finished their apparently last-ever Sound City Players performance (which was, in example of whimsical corporate synergy, "presented by Citi Private Pass," who provided Spinner with wristbands to skip past the massive line snaking around Stubbs). Grohl assembled the supergroup as part of his "Sound City" documentary about the California studio where Nevermind and countless other classic albums were recorded, from the pop-rock of Rick Springfield to the agit-rock of Rage Against the Machine to the classic rock of Fleetwood Mac and Credence Clearwater Revival.'

Representatives from the latter two opened and closed the show while Grohl and the Foos acted as backing band: Stevie Nicks quickly won over the crowd with singalong-friendly, Grohl-assisted versions of "Landslide" and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (as well as new "Sound City" song "You Can't Fix This," about her godson's fatal overdose). Fogerty brought everyone's flagging energy back up to boiling by unloading his CCR catalogue ("Born on the Bayou," "Bad Moon Rising," "Fortunate Son") which has lost none of its power in the decades since release.

"It's my life's greatest gifts that I get to call up these people who I consider heroes and have them come onstage and jam with me," Grohl gushed as he brought famous folks on and off stage. Lesser-known names like Queens of the Stone Age/Them Crooked Vultures player/producer Alain Johannes, Fear's Lee Ving and Masters of Reality's Chris Goss dropped some weight on the set, in terms of both heavier tunes and songs that the crowd didn't know. Later, Springfield's "Jessie's Girl" lightened things up with an expectedly enthusiastic response, as did the arrival of Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic. Novoselic pitched in on a run of Cheap Trick tunes alongside the power-pop band's guitarist Rick Neilson and, awesomely, Slipknot's Corey Taylor on vocals, especially killing it on "Surrender."

Grohl, meanwhile, rocked out for the full stretch: acting as emcee, joining in on vocals whenever he felt like it, and just generally looking he was in, well, nirvana.
Check the 'Sound City' Event

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Watch Dave Grohl, John Fogerty and Sound City Players Perform "Fortunate Son" on "Jimmy Kimmel Live"