Last year saw the always-busy Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters’ producer Greg Kurstin wrap up a horrible 2020 by giving the world a series of presents with their Hanukkah Sessions project. For eight days, Grohl and Kurstin celebrated the holidays by covering Jewish musicians, from Beastie Boys and The Velvet Underground to Elastica and Drake. Not content with the work they accomplished back then, the duo has returned for a 2021 edition that concluded last night with a two-person performance of Kiss’s “Rock And Roll All Nite.”
Grohl, in full Demon make-up and glasses, handles vocals as the pair play in a studio draped with tinsel and presented through a grainy filter. Between shots of the performance, Kurstin and Grohl read books, vacuum, take a drive to go buy Slurpees, and do yoga in their face paint, ending the video with Grohl saying he’s sad that they’re done for the year.
Before they got to this point, the pair covered The Clash’s “Train In Vain (Stand By Me,” ripped kazoo solos for Billy Joel’s “Big Shot,” broke out a keytar for Van Halen’s “Jump,” worked some “oy!”s into the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” had Grohl’s daughter Violet sing the lead on Amy Winehouse’s “Take The Box,” put some death metal growls and double kicks on Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You),” and, in our personal favorite, got properly glitzed up for a rendition of Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana.”
In the Kiss video’s description, Grohl writes that while this year’s Sessions are “gonna be tough to beat,” he and Kurstin will be back next year to outdo themselves somehow. He leaves us with the invitation to “rock and roll all nite and party everyday until next Hanukkah” and a parting “L’Chaim!!!!!”
With this done, perhaps Grohl can actually chill out for a few weeks before returning for another year of taking on so, so many projects.
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