Grunge was alive and well last night (Feb. 14) during Saturday Night Live‘s 50th anniversary concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, as Post Malone fronted a one-song Nirvana reunion and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder covered one of his own band’s songs as well as a Tom Petty classic while backed by the Roots,
An avowed ’90s rock fan whose 2020 all-Nirvana covers livestream (featuring blink-182 drummer Travis Barker) is making its vinyl debut in April for Record Store Day, Malone joined surviving members Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear for “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The non-singing members reunited last week for the first time in seven years as part of the FireAid benefit, with St. Vincent, Joan Jett and Kim Gordon handling the late Kurt Cobain’s vocals.
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Earlier, Vedder and the Roots covered the late Tom Petty classic “The Waiting,” which Vedder sung with Petty himself on a handful of occasions in the 2000s. During the song’s mellow breakdown, Vedder saluted deceased cast members such as Gilda Radner, Phil Hartman, Chris Farley, Norm MacDonald and John Belushi. The performance was followed by Pearl Jam’s ’90s anthem “Corduroy.”
The three hour-plus concert, which was streamed live on Peacock, featured a host of other unique collaborations and surprises, including David Byrne with both the Arcade Fire (David Bowie’s “Heroes”) and Robyn (“Dancing on My Own,” Talking Heads’ “(This Must Be the Place) Naive Melody”), Bonnie Raitt with Coldplay’s Chris Martin (“I Can’t Make You Love Me”), Miley Cyrus with Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard (Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”), Snoop Dogg and Jelly Roll (“Last Dance With Mary Jane”) and a two-thirds Fugees reunion with Lauryn Hill.
The evening concluded with Jack White covering Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World” and dusting off the White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army.”
Post Malone and Nirvana’s full performance at the #SNL50 Anniversary Concert. #PostNirvana pic.twitter.com/FUJT1Rikvx
— Pop Truther (@poptruther) February 15, 2025
Eddie Vedder & The Roots covering Tom Petty’s “The Waiting” at SNL50 concert pic.twitter.com/aJXLGovqD0
— BrooklynVegan (@brooklynvegan) February 15, 2025
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.