Nate Mendel has been performing Sunny Day Real Estate track ‘Seven’ while on tour with Foo Fighters. Check out footage below.

The bassist started out as a member of the Seattle group, before they disbanded after their second album and both Mendel and drummer William Goldsmith went to join Foo Fighters in the mid ‘90s.

While Goldsmith left the Dave Grohl-led band in 1997 during work on ‘The Color And Shape’ – with Grohl re-recoding all of his drum parts – Mendel has been in the line-up much longer, and only returned to Sunny Day Real Estate briefly in 2009 for a reunion tour.

Now, as Foo Fighters have kicked off their 2026 ‘Take Cover’ tour – which celebrates the release of latest album ‘Your Favorite Toy’ – Mendel has been using the shows to make a nod to his other band.

At each show since a stop in Norway on June 10, Foo Fighters have been breaking out a medley of No Use For A Name’s ‘Invincible’, The Wallflowers’ ‘One Headlight’, and their own tracks ‘Manimal’ and ‘Tap Dancing in a Minefield’. Also in that medley is the song ‘Seven’, which was released by Sunny Day Real Estate in 1994.

Speaking on stage in Sweden during their gig at Strawberry Arena, Dave Grohl introduced the song to the crowd and said he was going to pass over vocal duties to Mendel for the live rendition.

“You know Nate and I met in Seattle, a long long long time ago,” the frontman began. “Nate was in a band that in America people consider to be really really wonderful and influential. They were called Sunny Day Real Estate.”

“This is a Sunny Day Real Estate song, as sung by Nate Mendel,” he added, before the spotlight went onto Mendel for the cover.

The 2026 ‘Take Cover’ tour continues with two nights in Liverpool, set for June 25 and 27, and also includes festival appearances at Mad Cool and NOS Alive. Support across various dates will include Royel Otis, Inhaler, IDLES, Otoboke Beaver, Fat Dog and Die Spitz. Get any remaining tickets here.

Their current drummer is ex-Nine Inch Nails member Ilan Rubin, who joined following Foo’s decision to boot Josh Freese from the line-up – who joined the line-up in 2023 following the sudden passing of Taylor Hawkins in March 2022.

He toured with them throughout 2024, and in May last year, the Foos announced that he had been let go – a move that the sticksman said he was “shocked” and “disappointed” by. He has now joined Nine Inch Nails, meaning him and Rubin have effectively swapped groups.

Goldsmith was the original drummer for Foos, and played with them between 1995 and 1997. He left the group after Grohl re-recorded nearly all of his drum parts without telling him, and was later replaced by Taylor Hawkins.

In 2017, Goldsmith made headlines when he hit out at Grohl for his treatment in the band, saying he was left feeling “creatively raped” by the frontman and comparing him to a “mean” high school bully.

Taylor Hawkins then defended Grohl, and reminded fans that Goldsmith chose to leave the group.

Last year, Grohl looked back at his time with the original drummer when he thanked past members – including Goldsmith and Freese – showing gratitude for their contributions, celebrating 30 years of Foo Fighters and sharing ‘Today’s Song’.

More recently, guitarist Pat Smear looked back at the departure of Goldsmith and shared that he “didn’t like” how things ended. “Dave was just learning to be a bandleader; we could have handled the whole thing better. It left a bad taste,” he said.

‘Your Favorite Toy’ arrived in April, and NME gave it three-and-a-half stars, noting: “‘Your Favorite Toy’ is a few more tracks of that depth away from being the most vital Foo Fighters record since 1997’s ‘The Colour and the Shape’,” we wrote. “For now, at least, they have remembered that no-frills punk, played fast and loud, suits them much better than middle-of-the-road dad-rock.”

The post Watch Nate Mendel return to sing Sunny Day Real Estate as Foo Fighters cover ‘Seven’ appeared first on NME.