Photo: Press
25 years ago today Nirvana played The Warfield in San Francisco to the most high-octane crowd you can imagine. Listen to the full set below to get a feel for the real raw energy that was spinning around the room.
The set just goes to show what a great year 1991 was for the band. Nevermind had been out for just over a month and caused a cultural storm, it spoke to a people that became disillusioned with the likes of Simply Red, Dire Straits, and Phil Collins who had dominated the charts in the 80s. People were after something more subversive and daring and up stepped Nirvana who as well as possessing the perfect balance between being visceral and melodic, had something to say. Cobain was disgusted at how spineless the world was/still is toward "sexism, racism and all the other -isms that counterculture has been whining for for years." His attention to that ultimately helped foster more politically active people.
The recording above gives a sense of just how energised the crowds were in response to Cobain, Novoselic and Grohl. People had begged and pleaded to be one of the 2,300 people to see them that night and, according to reporter Fred Andrick some paid up to ten times the $13 asking price.
Underneath hearing the perfectly tight trio - in good quality - you can still hear the hysterical screams giving you a sense of what it would have liked to been there on the night. L7, Urge Overkill, and Sister Double Happiness opened for them.
Hearing these recordings does give you an extra sense of their ability push their bodies to the limits, veering ever so slightly from the originals in incorporating feedback and more manic drum parts and even more expressive vocals than on record. What a performance.
Nirvana played:
Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam
Aneurysm
Drain You
School
Floyd The Barber
Smells Like Teen Spirit
About A Girl
Polly
Breed
Sliver
Lithium
Love Buzz
On A Plain
Negative Creep
Blew
Dive
Rape Me
Territorial Pissings
