Wolf Alice covered Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ at their Finsbury Park show – check out footage of the moment below.
- Read More: Wolf Alice are a band in constant evolution: “Not resting on your laurels is really exciting”
Last night (July 5), the band returned to the capital for their biggest headline concert to date, with The Last Dinner Party, Lykke Li, Rachel Chinouriri, Keo, and Florence Road opening on the day.
The huge gig came in support of their Mercury-shortlisted and BRIT-nominated album ‘The Clearing’, with ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’, ‘Just Two Girls’, ‘Leaning Against the Wall’, ‘Bread Butter Tea Sugar’ and ‘The Sofa’ from the record all played in last night’s set.
Ellie Rowsell and co. also gave ‘White Leather’ its tour debut, and nodded to the North London area just up the road from Finsbury Park with ‘Gospel Oak’ – the first of three songs from a new 7” B-side package the band are set to release digitally over the coming weeks.
As the set drew to a close with ‘The Last Man on Earth’, ‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’ and ‘Moaning Lisa Smile’, the band launched into a cover of Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’ hit ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, and wrapped the huge gig with ‘Giant Peach’.
Wolf Alice covering Smells Like Teen Spirit wasn’t on the bingo card… pic.twitter.com/cyi26fmqlY
— JG (@JackGregg__17) July 5, 2026
Visions of a life at finsbury park. Life has peaked #wolfalice pic.twitter.com/l76dnnI8kk
— Man Without Mental health (@ArctikSloth) July 5, 2026
Wolf Alice、Finsbury Park。終始このテンション感だったので、最高でしかなかった。 pic.twitter.com/JJJE5JI6p2
— 前崎りつき (@ritsukimaesaki) July 5, 2026
Wolf Alice covering Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana at Finsbury Park this evening 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/50cvDrbcwe
— gherkin rowsell (@gherkinrowsell) July 5, 2026
Wolf Alice played:
‘Bloom Baby Bloom’
‘White Horses’
‘Formidable Cool’
‘Lisbon’
‘Just Two Girls’
‘Leaning Against the Wall’
‘Bros’
‘Gospel Oak’
‘White Leather’ (Tour debut)
‘How Can I Make It OK?’
‘The Sofa’
‘Bread Butter Tea Sugar’
‘Yuk Foo’
‘Play the Greatest Hits’
‘Smile’
‘Lipstick on the Glass’
‘Visions of a Life’
‘The Last Man on Earth’
‘Don’t Delete the Kisses’
Encore:
‘Moaning Lisa Smile’
‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ (Nirvana cover)
‘Giant Peach’
Sunday evening’s show was the final night in a run of huge Finsbury Park gigs this weekend. Biffy Clyro headlined the park on Friday (July 3), joined by Nothing But Thieves, Don Broco, Marmozets and Wavves, while Kasabian topped the bill on Saturday (July 4), with support from Louis Dunford, Razorlight, The K’s, Miles Kane and SOFY.
As for Wolf Alice, they are gearing up to mark the first anniversary of ‘The Clearing’ in August. The album went on to become their second UK Number One, and, in a five-star review, NME noted that it saw the band “settling into new levels of self-acceptance and self-assurance”.
The album was also shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, making Wolf Alice the first band in the prize’s history to be nominated for all of their first four albums. They later won Group Of The Year at the 2026 BRIT Awards, where Rowsell used the band’s acceptance speech to call for more support for grassroots music venues.
The band have had a busy year so far, recently performing ‘White Horses’ and ‘Leaning Against The Wall’ on SNL UK, before closing out the 2026 Teenage Cancer Trust series at the Royal Albert Hall.
Wolf Alice are also set to support Olivia Rodrigo on the opening North American leg of her huge ‘Unraveled Tour’ later this year, alongside other special guests including The Last Dinner Party, Devon Again, Die Spitz and Grace Ives.
