Thread: Nirvana Live At Reading

Live At Reading

Grunge


Nirvana's headlining appearance at the 1992 Reading Festival stands as a testament to a band at the peak of its powers...and right before things started to turn sour within the group.

Despite the happy news of the birth of Frances Bean Cobain 12 days before this August 30 festival, rumors swirled around Nirvana right up until the band hit the stage. Kurt Cobain took full advantage of these stories, making his entrance in a hospital gown and wheelchair pushed by journalist Everett True. Cobain feebly reached for the microphone to croak out the opening lines of "The Rose," only to collapse onto the stage, milking the drama for a moment before leading Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl through a ferocious "Breed." This sense of humor has been lost under the weight of the band's tragic legacy, along with the fact that Nirvana could actually be fun as well as furious.

Live at Reading brings all this roaring back. This is Nirvana's purest blast of rock & roll, there's so much energy here and, just as importantly, there's a sense of joy to the performances, something that comes to the surface when Kurt laughs during the intro of "Sliver" but can also be heard throughout the show, as the band rushes in tandem, pushing the tempos on "Aneurysm" and "Territorial Pissings."

This is a complete showcase of Nirvana at its best and is with out question one of the greatest live rock & roll albums ever.

A CD/DVD edition was also released I suggest picking this up if you are a hardcore fan of Nirvana and even if you are new to them.

This is by far my favorite album they had released.

Cowboy was just talking about the Live at Reading CD/DVD the other day Mud. I think he downloaded it.

Another stellar review by you. Thanks much!

Ah so thats the full story to the whole wheelchair thing.... good to know.

Ive had the un-edited copy of this dvd that has been knocking around for a while. It is a fantastic gig and i'll probably buy the real thing.