Dave Grohl’s teen daughter walks on stage. Papa Dave smiles warmly at Violet, and she smiles back. A fan yells, “We love you!” Nirvana are back, and it’s a family affair. Nirvana songs are a dark association for Dave, who said he couldn’t listen to their music without crying for a time. But this time, with his daughter at his side, it feels good, feels right. And you better believe she can sing! Fans teared up when the Grohls teamed up to reform Nirvana to play “All Apologies” at the FireAid charity concert.
As hugely successful as Dave has been as the frontman of Foo Fighters, there’s just something special that happens when he gets behind the kit for Nirvana. It looks so natural, like the years just melt away, as he looks across the stage at his Nirvana bandmates Pat Smear and Krist Novoselic. The Music Man has to give it up for Violet Grohl here, as it is very, very hard to cover Nirvana as a vocalist. Some huge names have tried and failed, but Violet really got to the heart of the song with her rendition.
Nirvana made one of their rare reunion appearances for the Los Angeles FireAid concert on January 30, 2025. The Seattle icons tapped some big names for their four-song set, with St. Vincent, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, and Joan Jett fronting the band for a song each. For many fans, it was Violet that stole the show, though, with fans adding comments such as “Dave Grohl’s daughter had the best performance” and “That song with Violet Grohl almost made me cry. Wow. Perfect fit. We miss you Kurt.”
Nirvana released the slow burn “All Apologies” on their 1993 studio album In Utero. However, the studio version was overshadowed by the band’s performance of “All Apologies” at their MTV Unplugged set later that year. This acoustic rendition captured one of Kurt Cobain’s most emotionally raw and vulnerable vocal performances. The MTV Unplugged version drew 109 million views on the band’s YouTube, becoming the band’s third-most popular live performance on the channel.
Violet Maye Grohl was born on April 15, 2006, as the eldest daughter of Dave and his wife Jordyn Blum. Violet was aged 18 at the time of the FireAid performance, although she has since turned 19.
Violet has been collaborating with her rockstar dad since she was a young’un. She debuted as a professional performer at age 12, when she sang Adele’s “When We Were Young” with her dad at a benefit concert for the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital.
The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that FireAid was not the first time Violet has performed with Nirvana. In 2020, she performed with the legendary Seattle rockers, singing “Heart-Shaped Box,” again for charity, this time in support of The Art of Elysium non-profit.