In a performance eerily similar to Elliott Smith’s appearance at the 1998 Oscars, Dave Grohl performed live at tonight’s 88th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles. The Foo Fighter and Defender of Rock covered the Beatles’ 1968 song “Blackbird” during the award show’s In Memoriam segment, which honors those who have died in the past year. Grohl performed solo with an acoustic guitar, backed by a symphony orchestra, as names and clips of late entertainers, writers, producers, and others flashed on the screen at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Of course, the segment was not without some head scratching moments. David Bowie, for instance, was shown via a clip from Zoolander and not, say Labyrinth or The Man Who Fell to Earth (as noted by many on twitter), and the Academy apparently forgot about the late Rowdy Roddy Piper’s cult performance in 1988’s They Live and Lemmy Kilmister’s unforgettable role in 1994’s Airheads.
Oh well.