Foo Fighters Debut Classic From Nirvana’s ‘MTV Unplugged’ Album At BottleRock

Foo Fighters threw back to frontman Dave Grohl's time in Nirvana during their headlining set at this past weekend’s BottleRock festival in Napa, California. Grohl led his bandmates through a take on The Vaselines’ “Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam” for the first time halfway through the performance.

Scottish rock band The Vaselines released their parody of the Christian children’s hymn “I’ll Be A Sunbeam” on the group’s 1987 EP Dying For It. Nirvana famously covered the song, which they renamed as “Jesus Doesn’t Want Me For A Sunbeam,” for their MTV Unplugged In New York album.

“Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam” was initially performed by Nirvana featuring Dave Grohl on drums in 1991. The band went on to cover the song a total of 85 times through February 21, 1994 as per Setlist.FM. The version included on 1994’s MTV Unplugged In New York was played on November 18, 1993.

Foo Fighters began “Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam” with little fanfare towards the middle of their set at BottleRock. Dave Grohl sang the cover debut which featured keyboardist Rami Jaffee on accordion. Grohl howled the lyrics a la Kurt Cobain.

Dave Grohl also fit a handful of dedications into Foo Fighters’ BottleRock performance. Grohl dedicated “These Days” to Spanish-American chef and restaurateur José Andrés, “Aurora” to late Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins and a slow solo version of “Big Me” to his wife Jordyn Blum.

Watch Foo Fighters perform “Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam” for the first time through the fan-captured video below:

Foo Fighters resume their Take Cover Tour on June 12 in Solna, Sweden. Additional European dates follow through July before the band brings the trek back to North America starting on August 4 in Toronto.