4.52am Issue: 025 16th March 2017 - The Kurt Cobain Nirvana Issue

issues when it came to his microphone,
until he ceremonially stomped it.
But the music, was something else. Oh
don’t get me wrong, I was old enough to
know about garage bands, I loved a
distorted 3 chord trick as much as the
next chap, but this American band, the
Nirvanas as the barman called them, had
something a little different. They wrote
songs.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no paid-up
member, well not often, but even then
I’m no paid-up member of the ‘can I
whistle it’ brigade, but the truth of the
matter was that in among the noise,
drones, confusion and yes, grunginess,
there were really songs with choruses
and middle eights and lead breaks and
melodies. It was the last thing I was
expecting, I have to say.
And I know at this point I should probably
be claiming that I always knew that they
would go on to change the world, but of
course that wasn’t true. They came
across as so disorganised and slack I
thought it more likely that they would
never get their act together to an extent
that they may get home even, but it
shows what I know and history tells us
that this was only the start.
What I will claim, is that I kept a beady
one out for them turning-up in Brum
again, and even went to see them in
London if I remember correctly, but that
all came later with the addition of the
Grohl and a veneer of shiny corporate
whoredom that was both the making
and the ultimate breaking of them, I’m
sure.
And as I sit here in my smoking jacket
and listen to the recording of the
concert I’ve just happened upon on
YouTube, I can’t help but feel that I
was right at the time, the songs and the
performance, if rougher than what it
would later be in terms of technical
proficiency, showed all the elements of
greatness, all manner of brilliance.
Setlist:
Intro - 0:00
School - 1:42
Scoff - 4:30
Love Buzz - 8:53
Floyd the Barber - 13:42
Dive - 15:52
Polly - 21:05
Big Cheese - 23:53
Spank Thru - 27:39
About a Girl - 31:12
Token Eastern Song - 34:21
Mr. Moustache - 38:50
Jam - 42:18
Stain (aborted) - 43:22
Negative Creep - 49:18
Blew - 52:25