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The Hanukkah Sessions
The Hanukkah Sessions are a series of video presentations of popular songs originally written or performed by Jewish artists, as covered by musicians Greg Kurstin and Dave Grohl. Kurstin and Grohl covered eight songs per year for this project, and released one per night to digital streaming platforms for each night of Hanukkah in the years 2020 through 2022.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021, Kurstin (primarily playing keyboards) and Grohl (primarily playing drums) recorded those years' Hanukkah Sessions in Kurstin's home studio. During these times they occasionally featured other performers, such as Peaches singing "Fuck the Pain Away" with them remotely, and Grohl's daughter Violet singing a cover of Amy Winehouse's song "Take the Box".
In 2022, when pandemic conditions had eased, Kurstin and Grohl held a concert with various guests on December 5 at the Largo nightclub in Los Angeles. These guests included Inara George (Kurstin's bandmate from The Bird and the Bee), Beck, P!nk, Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D, Karen O, and Grohl's daughter Violet. Director Judd Apatow collaborated with Kurstin and Grohl to make the 2022 edition of the Hanukkah Sessions a fundraiser for the Anti-Defamation League. The songs recorded at this concert were released to streaming platforms one at a time on each night of Hanukkah, in keeping with the pattern established the previous two years.
| Night of Hanukkah(with Gregorian calendar date and link to video) | Song | Original artist(s) | Comments | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st (December 10, 2020) | "Sabotage" | Beastie Boys | ||
| 2nd (December 11, 2020) | "Hotline Bling" | Drake | ||
| 3rd (December 12, 2020) | "Mississippi Queen" | Leslie West of Mountain | ||
| 4th (December 13, 2020) | "Fuck the Pain Away" | Peaches | Performed (remotely) with vocals by Peaches | |
| 5th (December 14, 2020) | "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" | Bob Dylan | ||
| 6th (December 15, 2020) | "Connection" | Justine Frischmann of Elastica | ||
| 7th (December 16, 2020) | "Frustrated" | The Knack | ||
| 8th (December 17, 2020) | "Rock & Roll" | The Velvet Underground | ||
| 1st (November 28, 2021) | "Stay (I Missed You)" | Lisa Loeb | ||
| 2nd (November 29, 2021) | "Blitzkrieg Bop" | Joey Ramone and Tommy Ramone of Ramones | ||
| 3rd (November 30, 2021) | "Copacabana" | Barry Manilow | ||
| 4th (December 1, 2021) | "Jump" | David Lee Roth of Van Halen | ||
| 5th (December 2, 2021) | "Take the Box" | Amy Winehouse | Performed with Violet Grohl | |
| 6th (December 3, 2021) | "Big Shot" | Billy Joel | ||
| 7th (December 4, 2021) | "Train in Vain" | Mick Jones of The Clash | ||
| 8th (December 5, 2021) | "Rock and Roll All Nite" | Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of Kiss | ||
| 1st (December 18, 2022) | "Spinning Wheel" | Blood, Sweat & Tears | Performed with Judd Apatow; Apatow specifically referenced a version of the song as performed by the character Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show. | |
| 2nd (December 19, 2022) | "Get the Party Started" | P!nk | Performed with P!nk | |
| 3rd (December 20, 2022) | "The Things We Do for Love" | 10cc | Performed with Inara George and backing vocals by Tenacious D | |
| 4th (December 21, 2022) | "At Seventeen" | Janis Ian | Performed with Violet Grohl; Shortly thereafter Ian herself commented favorably on Violet Grohl's performance. | |
| 5th (December 22, 2022) | "E-Pro" | Beck | Performed with Beck | |
| 6th (December 23, 2022) | "Heads Will Roll" | Yeah Yeah Yeahs | Performed with Karen O | |
| 7th (December 24, 2022) | "The Spirit of Radio" | Geddy Lee of Rush | Performed with Jack Black | |
| 8th (December 25, 2022) | "We Love L.A." | Randy Newman | Performed with Karen O, Beck, Tenacious D, Inara George, and P!nk |
- The Hanukkah Sessions on Foo Fighters YouTube channel
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