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.
Background 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.
Table of songs Night of Hanukkah(with Gregorian calendar date and link to video)SongOriginal artist(s)CommentsCitations1st (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"PeachesPerformed (remotely) with vocals by Peaches5th (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 WinehousePerformed with Violet Grohl6th (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 & TearsPerformed 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!nkPerformed with P!nk3rd (December 20, 2022)"The Things We Do for Love"10ccPerformed with Inara George and backing vocals by Tenacious D4th (December 21, 2022)"At Seventeen"Janis IanPerformed with Violet Grohl; Shortly thereafter Ian herself commented favorably on Violet Grohl's performance.5th (December 22, 2022)"E-Pro"BeckPerformed with Beck 6th (December 23, 2022)"Heads Will Roll"Yeah Yeah YeahsPerformed with Karen O7th (December 24, 2022)"The Spirit of Radio"Geddy Lee of RushPerformed with Jack Black8th (December 25, 2022)"We Love L.A."Randy NewmanPerformed with Karen O, Beck, Tenacious D, Inara George, and P!nk
References
External links The Hanukkah Sessions on Foo Fighters YouTube channel