Watch Joseph Gordon-Levitt Perform Surprise Nirvana Cover

Actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt was at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle on Tuesday to promote his web-based collaboration project hitRECord and surprised the crowd with a cover of Nirvana’s “Lithium.” He performed the song solo, accompanied only by an electric guitar.

The cover was appropriate not just because this year marks the 20th anniversary of Nirvana’s game-changing Nevermind, but because he performed it in Kurt Cobain’s hometown. The most astonishing part of all was that Gordon-Levitt did the song justice, demonstrating his impressive pipes.

Gordon-Levitt made a brief speech mid-song emphasizing not to let the legend and controversy of Cobain’s death eclipse the greatness of Nirvana’s actual music—something that happens all too often.

Watch his performance below:

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