(Credits: Subpop)
When a band rises to prominence rapidly, only to have that snatched by the unfortunate passing of a member or sudden disbanding, any archival footage of their earliest performances or proof of having even attended shows when they were unknown becomes a holy grail of sorts. When this happened to Nirvana after the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, superfans were quick to scramble to find any scraps of documentation of their entire live recorded history, and in the age of the internet, this has become significantly easier.
Nirvana first toured the UK and Europe in 1989 alongside their then-Sub Pop label-mates Tad, and while critics had responded positively to the release of their debut album, Bleach, there was little indication at the time that they were on the verge of exploding and becoming not just the world’s foremost grunge act, but one of the most celebrated bands in rock history.
Now, with the element of hindsight, we’ve collectively realised that any documentation of their first appearances on this continent is an important relic that requires preservation of some sort. Therefore, anyone with dusty old tapes of every show they used to attend in the late ‘80s stowed away in the attic must be aware that they’re sitting on figurative gold dust if there’s a recording of Nirvana tucked in between the forgotten-about gigs of yesteryear.
Given that, the fact that fans managed to unearth and post an entire recording of their first European show at The Riverside in Newcastle, UK on October 23rd, 1989, to the internet 25 years after the event, through following a trail of information left online about the existence of a mysterious tape, is a remarkable feat of obsessive fandom and honourable preservationism.
Now available to hear in full via YouTube, the story of fans’ efforts to uncover the recording is shared in the video description – in Brazilian Portuguese, of course. Translated to English, the description reads: “The survival of documentation of Nirvana’s first concert outside North America is remarkable: a cassette copy of a presumed master tape was found with melted candle wax in its case, which is where it was rescued.”
It continues: “More than 25 years after the event, a Nirvana fan and Italian concert enthusiast was scouring the internet for clues as to the possible existence of this recording, and in 2015 found a cryptic reference to the tape mentioned in a Facebook comment. A fellow Nirvana fan in Brazil followed suit, and the owner kindly allowed LiveNirvana.com to professionally digitise the tape.”
As the first show of a 35-date tour, it’s remarkable that only a single performance from the tour remains buried, with no full or partial recordings available of their performance six days later at The Waterfront in Norwich. This particular showing sees the band, with the then lineup of Cobain, Krist Novoselic and original drummer Chad Channing, race through cuts from their early Sub Pop catalogue and their debut album, with particularly raucous renditions of ‘Floyd The Barber’, ‘About A Girl’ and Shocking Blue cover ‘Love Buzz’ available to marvel at.
It’s a fascinating slice of history, and a delight that it’s been preserved for new generations of fans to discover, and for those who were there to bask in once again. Perhaps the most important grunge show to have happened in the UK or Europe, for that matter, and now available to hear forever.
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