Rockin’ 1,000 Cover Nirvana, AC/DC, the White Stripes + More
In the past, we've reported on the Rockin' 1,000 and their two brilliant Foo Fighters covers and now the rock group have taken things even further. Performing once again in Cesana, Italy, over 1,200 musicians rallied together for a full concert, playing classics from acts like Nirvana, AC/DC, the White Stripes and more.
In the video above, the Rockin' 1000 take on the groundbreaking Nirvana hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit," backed by hundreds of drummers, guitarists and bassists along with a noteworthy amount of keyboard players, violinists and even bagpipe players. The voices rang the loudest in the footage, especially during the musically subdued verse.
The aforementioned bagpipe players got their moment in the spotlight during the cover of AC/DC's "It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll). The song (video directly below) famously features a bagpipe break after the first chorus and the song took on new life at the Cesana concert, though the video quality does make the instrument difficult to discern. The crowd can be seen basking in one of rock's greatest songs, jumping around, clapping their hands in unison with the Rockin' 1,000.
The rest of the set saw the massive group of rockers cruise through other rock hits like the Clash's "Police on My Back" and a medley of Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles' "Come Together." Also featured was the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army" as seen in the video below. The song places a huge emphasis on a steady, driving, single-strike beat, lending itself to heavy crowd participation among the legion of voices from within the band itself.
The Rockin' 1,000 was conceived by Fabio Zaffagnini, a Foo Fighters fan from Cesana, Italy, who wanted the rock powerhouse to perform in the city. After a successful crowd-funding campaign, Zaffagnini organized over 1,000 musicians to perform the band's "Learn to Fly," and, at a later event, "Saint Cecilia." The viral performance worked as Foo Fighters added Cesana to their world tour, with Dave Grohl congratulating the Rockin' 1000. "This is like a revolution," Grohl stated at the show, later adding, "You know the whole world saw what you did, right? Millions and millions of people saw what you did. It's a beautiful thing. Congratulations everybody."
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