Bruno Mars performed “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana at a private Christmas party in New York. Featuring Slash, Eddie Vedder and Chad Smith.
Bruno Mars performed several rock classics, including Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” at a private company Christmas party in New York. The concert took place on Thursday, December 11, 2025 at the Capitol Theater and was organized by the holding company Eldridge Industries as a closed event. In addition to Mars, numerous other well-known musicians performed, including Eddie Vedder, Slash, Yungblud, Anthony Kiedis and Brandi Carlile.
Exclusive band The Dirty Bats as the crowning glory
Mars was the last singer of the evening and played together with the event’s specially formed band The Dirty Bats, consisting of Slash and Duff McKagan from the Guns N’ Roses, Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and producer Andrew Watt. In his set, Bruno Mars interpreted the Nirvana song as well as “Whole Lotta Love” (Led Zeppelin), “Roxanne” (The Police), “Fire” (Jimi Hendrix) and “Dirty Diana” by Michael Jackson.
A marathon through rock history
The evening included a total of 24 songs, most of which came from the repertoire of classic rock and pop artists. The concert was opened by Yungblud, who played cover versions of The Rolling Stones, Faces and Black Sabbath together with the band. Brandi Carlile then took over, presenting her own song “The Story” as well as pieces by Queen and Led Zeppelin. Anthony Kiedis later joined and sang songs by Motörhead, Iggy and the Stooges and Sly & the Family Stone, among others.
Bruno Mars covers Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, watch here:
Joint finale with rock legends
Towards the end of the evening, Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder appeared and played several songs from his band’s repertoire as well as selected covers. At the end, all artists involved returned to the stage for a joint finale and played “Johnny B. Goode” by Chuck Berry and “Rockin’ in the Free World”. Neil Young.
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Billionaire successes behind you
Bruno Mars’ appearance came against the backdrop of current successes: his song “APT.”, a collaboration with Rosé from BLACKPINK, achieved more than two billion views on YouTube within ten months. Mars also recently made it public that he originally didn’t want to release his collaboration with Lady Gaga, “Die With A Smile.” The song now has over three billion streams on Spotify and won a Grammy in 2025 in the “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance” category.
The host behind the scenes
Eldridge Industries, the evening’s organizer, was founded in 2015 and has investments in, among others, DraftKings, Vivid Seats, the Los Angeles Dodgers as well as media companies such as Dick Clark Productions and the Golden Globes.