Nirvana

I've been waiting for an official release of this performance for nearly 20 years, so when I got a chance to view the screening of Nirvana's legendary Reading festival performance from 1992, nothing was going to keep me away.

I was lucky enough to witness the event first hand all those years ago and still regularly bore and annoy my less fortunate mates with stories of how amazing it was. The line up for that weekend was something else. Manics, Pavement, Nick Cave, Teenage Fanclub, Mudhoney, The Melvins, PJ Harvey, Public Enemy, L7, The Charlatans, The Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins and Ride were just a few of the bands we'd watched put in some fantastic performances over the weekend

After sticking out the truly awful weather for the weekend, the whole of the festival was ready and waiting for the grand finale. The mood in the air was nervous with hope and expectation. There had been rumours flying around from the worst kind - Kurt had taken an overdose and was dead, to the less extreme mutterings that Novoselic and Grohl were on site but Cobain hadn't turned up. There had been plenty in the recent press detailing Kurt and Courtney's drug problems, so when, after what seemed like an age the band appeared on stage the place erupted...

...Instead of walking on though, In an amusing reply to the rumourmongors, Kurt was wheeled on in a wheelchair ( by Music journalist Everett True ), wearing a hospital gown and wig. He slowly and dramatically got up, and shakily sang, "some say love,it is a river" then promptly collapsed!.....of course he was joking, he got back up and the band ripped into a blazing rendition of 'Breed' ...and they were off....

After the opener, Nirvana tore through highly charged versions of 'Drain You' , 'Aneurysm' (surely one of the best b-sides ever?! ) and 'Bleach' highlight, 'School'. The whole crowd screaming along the chorus of "no recess!", the gig was in full flow...

The performance you see on this DVD is by no means polished, Krist has the odd hiccup and Kurt makes a fair few mistakes, he also occasionally struggles to find the right key and sing in tune, most noticably during 'In Bloom' and 'Sliver', after which Dave sarcastically comments " we practiced last night! ". In the context of the whole performance though, none of this matters. Nirvana deliver an empassioned, ferocious performance and fully draw the crowd into their world for 2 hours. And what the hell if there were a couple of mistakes, this was all in the spirit of Grunge for Krist's sake!!......Needless to say however, Mr Grohl battered the drums with his trademark enthusiastic gusto and consumate perfectionism. He beat the living shit out of those skins!

The performace you get here includes all but one track from 'Nevermind' ( 'Something in the Way' ), a fair bit off 'Bleach', and a handful of older tracks later to appear on 'Incesticide'. You also get the debut performances of three, somewhat lyrically incomplete songs from 'In Utero' ( 'Dumb' 'Tourettes' and 'All Apologies' ) the latter of which Kurt dedicated to his 12 day old daughter (Frances Bean) and to Courtney to whom we had to shout " Courtney we love you ". I don't think the whole crowd shared that sentiment,but most shouted along anyway!

The most anticipated song of the night was obviously 'Smells like Teen Spirit', the song which broke them into the big time. The guys played around with it a bit here and playfully slapped the intro of Boston's 'More than a Feeling' onto the beginning, it had been commented that there was more than a passing resemblance in the riffs of the two songs! I managed to get down the front for most of this gig, and the moshpit, when this came on especially, was a rough ride. Sometimes getting battered and bruised is a shitload of fun!

Towards the end of the gig here you get a bit of a bands that influenced us 'covers' section. 'Spank Thru' was originally a Fecal Matter song, Cobain's first band. 'Love Buzz' was a Shocking Blue cover. 'The Money Will Roll Right In' by Fang (also covered by Mudhoney) and finally a version of The Wipers' awesome 'D7' which still remains one of my most listened to Nirvana songs. If you're not familiar with this one,wait for it to kick off in the 2nd half of the song! Perfect set closer 'Territorial Pissings' finishes off anyone in the moshpit who thought they had enough energy for a few more songs. The band then scutter any chances of an encore with their now legendary glorious trashing of the stage.Sensational.

The sound for this release is taken from the original masters and is great. The picture quality is Fine, but remember the age of the gig before becoming too critical.It's recorded on videotape,there was basic lighting, a handful of cameras and angles compared to the complex equipment and imagery you get these days, and literally no stage decoration, not even a big sheet behind them with 'Nirvana' written on it. But who needs any technical wizardary when you have the best band of it's generation, accompanied on stage by their dancing mate Tony who dances like a maniac for the entire gig?!

About an hour after this gig finished I was already clutching a bootleg cassette of the whole performance in my sweaty palm, I didn't think it would take this long before it officially came out!
This DVD for me is a reminder of how lucky I was to be at this momentous gig. I've been to hundreds since, but very few ever get close to the magic I experienced on this night. For a slice of that magic, this is a must buy for anyone who is even remotely a fan. Watch it, and you'll want to watch it again and again and again.

'Nirvana Live At Reading' will be issued in a limited edition DVD+CD Deluxe Edition as well as DVD-only, CD-only configurations on November 2, 2009, followed by a 2 LP version on November 16, 2009.

Set List

1. Breed
2. Drain You
3. Aneurysm
4. School
5. Sliver
6. In Bloom
7. Come As You Are
8. Lithium
9. About A Girl
10. tourette's
11. Polly
12. Lounge Act
13. Smells Like Teen Spirit
14. On A Plain
15. Negative Creep
16. Been A Son
17. All Apologies
18. Blew
19. Dumb
20. Stay Away
21. Spank Thru
22. Love Buzz*
23. The Money Will Roll Right In
24. D-7
25. Territorial Pissings

*not included on CD