Nirvana 'Live At Reading' (Universal) Released 02/11/09

Certain gigs are legendary. Hendrix at Woodstock. U2 at Live Aid. David Hasslehoff at the fall of the Berlin Wall. Errr maybe not that last one. The release of Nirvana Live at Reading marks the first occasion that either bootleggers or the lucky buggers that were there get to see one such renowned gig. Their performance at Reading 1992 is widely credited as Nirvana at their formidable peak. Which makes me wonder, what took so long for this DVD to come around?

Perhaps its been an issue of perfectionism. It looks like the film has been taken directly off Reading's big screens by judge of the multiple camera angles and crowd shots. As such, its an extremely competent bit of filming compared to how some live videos come out (even if the screen lines are a little annoying). Blessedly, the sound is also high quality (a fact that has unsurprisingly been milked by a live album to accompany the DVD).

As for the performance, its a confident and tight effort. Capturing the bulk of Nevermind plus other tracks that would later make up 'Incesticide' later in 1992, this is a time when the concerns that would consume the band (and specifically Kurt) later weren't so manifest. As such its full on effort with bucket loads of personality from both Kurt and Kris – especially Kurt's enigmatic entrance dressed in a wig being pushed in a wheel chair to mock his critics' concerns about his health.

There's something a little sickening to think of this as just one more corporate cash in on Nirvana's memory. But to be honest, its perhaps the one that fans will appreciate the most. Perhaps if they'd flogged this before the huge number of biographies, Kurt's journal and every recording the band ever put to tape, it wouldn't need to be a consideration.
Though the whole thing should be a treat for fans, highlights on the disc are 'Lithium' which comes across particularly well in a live setting, 'On A Plain'  and  'Smells Like Teen Spirit', which is mockingly begun by playing Boston's More Than a Feeling from which the Nirvana classic was supposedly ripped off.

Of all the moments of Kurt's life to be sold off for mass consumption (part of the problem that contributed to his drug addiction and eventual suicide) this DVD is perhaps the best type of tribute to the man and the band he played with. It showcases Nirvana's music at its finest and how it was arguably supposed to be seen – live. It won't replace seeing the real thing, but given the impossibility of this as a second option I'd take it any day.