Watch Dave Grohl Cover ‘Summer Breeze’ With Beck and Tenacious D
Dave Grohl joined Beck, Tenacious D, John C. Reilly and producer Greg Kurstin onstage at Los Angeles' Largo nightclub on Tuesday night to run through a comical rendition of Seals & Crofts' 1972 classic "Summer Breeze." You can watch a video from the performance below.
The all-star team-up was part of a benefit show thrown by Judd Apatow to raise money for VictimsFirst, which helps "victims of mass shootings, terrorist attacks and other mass-casualty crimes," according to its website. The event also included performances by comedians Pete Holmes and Sarah Silverman, as well as a Tenacious D mini-set that included a rendition of REO Speedwagon's "Keep On Loving You," Variety reports.
Beck, who was billed as the evening's headliner, led the hodgepodge band of entertainers on guitar and vocals, accompanied by Jack Black on vocals, Kyle Gass on guitar, Kurstin on piano and Reilly dancing passionately on the side of the stage when he wasn't assisting Black on vocal harmonies.
As the group broke into the first chorus of "Summer Breeze," Grohl ambled onstage to sing the song's yearning electric guitar riff (not unlike his vocalized rendition of the "Stairway to Heaven" solo during his 2000 appearance on The Late Late Show With Craig Kilborn). He quickly shuffled offstage, returning to reprise his role during each chorus, and led the audience in a clap-along near the end of the performance.
"Summer Breeze" peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, entering a three-way tie for Seals & Crofts' biggest hit alongside 1973's "Diamond Girl" and 1976's "Get Closer." Jim Seals, the duo's principal lyricist and singer, died in June at the age of 80.
The Largo cameo marked one of Grohl's first public performances since the death of Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in March. Grohl first returned to the stage in June when he joined Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen during McCartney's headlining Glastonbury set, jamming on "I Saw Her Standing There," "Band on the Run" and the set-closing "The End."
Grohl will soon participate in two all-star tribute concerts to Hawkins, the first on Sept. 3 in London and the second on Sept. 27 in Los Angeles. He's also scheduled to perform at Joe Walsh's sixth annual VetsAid charity concert on Nov. 13 in Columbus, Ohio, alongside a reunited James Gang (for their final show), Nine Inch Nails, the Black Keys and the Breeders.