-??/??/85 Olympia, WA GESSCO Hall
NOTES: Kurt's first performance, reciting poetry over improvised music by
Dale Crover and Buzz Osbourne, under the name "Brown Towel"
-12/??/85 Moclips, WA Spot Club
NOTES: "Fecal Matter", the band with Kurt, Dale, and Greg Hokanson, opened
for the Melvins.
-??/??/87 Redmond, WA House Party
-03/??/87 Olympia, WA Gessco Hall
-04/17/87 Olympia, WA KAOS Radio Broadcast
FORMATS: Audio Cassette
QUALITY: A- Radio Broadcast
TIME: 35 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: The earliest known recording of the band, at this time
labeled as Skid Row. This is the "remarkable live midnight show"
performed for KAOS Radio at Evergreen State College. Aaron
Burkhardt is on drums, and it's really cool to hear the band
with his drumming. Only known recording of "White Lace and Strange"
a cover of a Thunder and Roses song, as well as rare recordings of
"Anorexorcist", "Pen Cap Chew", and "Downer". This was done a
little after the band first formed, and it shows. While their
performance isn't superb, it's a great tape to own.
SETLIST: Love Buzz / Floyd the Barber / Downer / Mexican Seafood /
White Lace and Strange / Spank Thru / Anorexorcist / Hairspray
Queen / Pen Cap Chew
-??/??/87 ??????, WA Party
FORMATS: Audio Cassette
QUALITY: B+ Audience Recording
TIME: 45 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: An early house party, this show is incomplete. I believe
Aaron Burkhardt is on drums by the playing on "Downer" and "Pen
Cap Chew". The audience at this party is obnoxious, and most of
the people are drunk, stoned, or both. Krist can be heard playing
bass lines like "Floyd the Barber", "Louie Louie", "Walk This Way",
and "Wild Thing", and before "Hairspray Queen" he sings a bit of
"Sound Of Silence" by Simon and Garfunkel. Kurt plays a riff over
and over again, which may be another song they chose not to play.
Kurt introduces "Spank Thru" as "Breaking the Law", making fun of
the Judas Priest song. After "Pen Cap Chew", Kurt plays the intro
to CCR's "Who'll Stop the Rain". I believe more songs were played.
SETLIST: Downer / Aerozeppelin / If You Must / Heartbreaker / How Many More
Times / Mexican Seafood / Pen Cap Chew / Spank Thru / Hairspray Queen
-08/??/87 Olympia, WA House Party
-12/14/87 Tacoma, WA Community World Theater
NOTES: Even under tremendous pressure, I'm not changing 1/23/88 back to this
date. There are many reasons. You can see my argument on Alex Bender's
Cherry Flavored Antacids page. I wonder if the band ever even played on
this date.
-??/??/88 Seattle, WA Central Tavern
-01/23/88 Tacoma, WA Community World Theater
FORMATS: Many tapes, CD as "Tacoma 1987" Cracker
QUALITY: B- Audience Recording, Video (unsurfaced)
TIME: Approximately 50 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: The show played the same day after the band recorded their first
full-fledged demo with Jack Endino. Dale Crover is on drums. The
original recording isn't great, but Kris Sproul has taken the original
"Tacoma 1987" CD, fixed the speed so the guitars are in normal tuning,
and he removed some hiss to make the sound quality a little better.
Rare performances of "If You Must", "Downer", "Beeswax", "Pen Cap Chew"
and "Anorexorist". Another rare song, which is titled by many as
"Raunchola" was played to close the show, along with a jam of the Led
Zeppelin song "Moby Dick". Dale Crover told my friend Rick that this
show was videotaped, meaning the audio may come from an unsurfaced
video of the show.
SETLIST: If You Must / Downer / Floyd the Barber / Papercuts / Spank Thru /
Hairspray Queen (stopped) / Aerozeppelin / Beeswax / Mexican Seafood
Pen Cap Chew / Anorexorcist / Hairspray Queen / unknown (Raunchola?)
Moby Dick (jam)
-01/24/88 Aberdeen, WA Radio Shack
FORMATS: Video
QUALITY: A- semi-PRO video
TIME: Most likely about 30 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: Well, this isn't really a show, but actually very early music videos.
An Aberdeen online site shows pictures of this Radioshack with a
caption that Nirvana had some early music videos recorded there. I
didn't think this was real until I ran across an episode from a TV
show with clips from this video, an interview with the man who taped
them, and clips of him giving the complete music video to Courtney
shortly after Kurt's death. So, there probably is a slim chance
that the whole video will circulate. But what it actually is is the
band pretending to play while overdubs of the demo made the day before
are played. On the copy I have, there are only the two songs listed
below (actually, clips of them), and it looks like the band is having
a ton of fun. Dale Crover has told my friend Rick that only a few
songs were done, and he would love to get a full copy of the video
since he doesn't have it.
SETLIST: If You Must / Papercuts (so far....the whole demo probably had
music videos made for it.....)
-03/19/88 Tacoma, WA Community World Theater
-??/??/88 Tacoma, WA party
-04/24/88 Seattle, WA The Vogue
-05/??/88 Seattle, WA Central Tavern
NOTES: First show with Chad Channing.
-05/??/88 Seattle, WA Squid Row
-05/??/88 Olympia, WA Evergreen State College
-05/15/88 New York, NY New Music Seminar
NOTES: If anyone says they have this, be skepticle, because there is a 10 minute
version of 4/10/89 floating around that claims to be this.
-06/05/88 Seattle, WA Central Tavern
-06/15/88 Seattle, WA The Vogue
-06/17/88 Ellensburg, WA Hal Holmes Center
-06/29/88 Seattle, WA Moore Theatre (Lame Fest)
-07/03/88 Seattle, WA The Vogue (Sub Pop Sunday)
-07/10/88 Seattle, WA Comet Tavern
-07/23/88 Seattle, WA Central Tavern
-07/30/88 Seattle, WA Squid Row
-08/29/88 Seattle, WA The Vogue
-10/30/88 Olympia, WA Evergreen State Dorm Party
-10/31/88 Seattle, WA Union Station
NOTES: Chad Channing recalled that for this show he was extremely sick, and
some girl he knew was taking care of him next door, and when it came time,
walked to the next room and played. He said it was a good performance.
-11/23/88 Bellingham, WA Speedy O'Tubs
-11/26/88 ???????, WA ?????
-12/01/88 Seattle, WA Hollywood Underground
-12/21/88 Hoquiam, WA Hoquiam Eagles Lodge
FORMATS: Video (2 edits, one 20 min., one 40 min.), Audio
QUALITY: B Audience Recording, C+ 40 minute video
TIME: 60 minutes complete
HIGHLIGHTS: Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" and the Smack's "Run Rabbit, Run" are
the highlights of this show, plus many first recorded performances of
"Bleach" songs, like "School", "Sifting", and "Blew" The video is the
real highlight of the show, where Chris strips down to his underwear and
Kurt has his hair in a pony-tail. Very eery performance of "Big Cheese".
Newer, B/B+ version has surfaced, with all the songs on there and
are good quality. Supposedly a full video exists, but has never surfaced.
Chris jams on Dazed and Confused briefly before School on some videos.
SETLIST: School / Love Buzz / Floyd the Barber / Mr. Moustache / Papercuts /
Mexican Seafood / Spank Thru / Aerozeppelin / Sifting / Hairspray Queen /
Run Rabbit Run / Big Cheese / Immigrant Song / Blew
-12/28/88 Seattle, WA Hollywood Underground
FORMATS: CD as "New Year's Eve", "Live In Seattle", "Christmas in Seattle"
QUALITY: A- Audience Recording
TIME: About 45 min.
HIGHLIGHTS: No really rare songs, but an incredible sounding "School" an eery
"Papercuts", a hard to find "Hairspray Queen" live performance, plus
incredible quality for an early show makes this one great. Some CDs
include Jesse Bernstein's full introduction.
SETLIST: School / Love Buzz / Floyd the Barber / Mr. Moustache / Paper Cuts /
Mexican Seafood / Spank Thru / Sifting / Hairspray Queen / Blew
-01/21/89 Portland, OR Satyricon Club
-02/??/89 Olympia, WA Evergreen State Dorm Party
-02/08/89 Tacoma, WA ?????
-02/10/89 San Francisco, CA The Covered Wagon Saloon
-02/11/89 San Jose, CA Marsugi's
-02/17/89 San Francisco, CA ?????
-02/25/89 Seattle, WA HUB Ballroom
-04/07/89 Seattle, WA Annex Theater
-04/14/89 Ellensberg, WA Hal Holmes Center
-04/26/89 Seattle, WA The Vogue
NOTES: Got some info from a Backlash issue, courtesy of Rick: "They played with Flaming
Lips and Steel Pole Bathtub. There is a review for whole show, but it's like
five lines long! 'Olympia gods Nirvana, who delievered their usual screams and
nasty guitar riffs.' Great review huh? Oh well..."
-05/09/89 Seattle, WA Central Tavern
-05/26/89 Tacoma, WA Lindbloom Student Center @ Green River Community College
NOTES: Information on this show has started to surface ever since the 3/90
Evergreen videos surfaced. Supposedly the band had this show PRO-shot for
themselves. Small clips of this show can be seen in the background of the
Evergreen State Music video for "School" done in March of 1990. Features
first known performances of early favorites.
SETLIST: Dive / School / Love Buzz / Scoff / Sifting / Big Cheese / Floyd The
Barber / Spank Thru / About A Girl / Negative Creep
-??/??/89 Olympia, WA Reko/Muse
NOTES: The photo on the cover of Bleach is from this show, so since
Bleach was released on 6/15/89, this show must have been played
before June of '89.
-06/09/89 Seattle, WA Moore Theater (LameFest '89)
NOTES: The July 1989 issue of Backlash talks about this show a little:
"but only two things were not up to excellent standards. The first
was Nirvana’s sound. The vocals were too far back in the mix and there
was a huge rumble that seriously needed adjusting. It’s a bad thing,
too, as the band utilizes a lot of melody within their grunge. As for
their performance - totally intense. Hair explosions, pratfalls, jumps,
body writhing and a trash-a-thon finale that left instruments and
bodies strewn about the stage. Quite riveting."
-06/21/89 Seattle, WA The Vogue
-06/22/89 San Francisco, CA The Covered Wagon Saloon
-06/23/89 Westwood, CA Rhino Records
FORMATS: Video, Audio
QUALITY: B Audience Recording (first 3 songs horrible quality)
TIME: 35 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: Features the first recorded performances of "Dive", "About a Girl",
"Polly", and "Negative Creep". "Sifting" is featured in "MTV's Tribute
to Nirvana" Also, Jason Everman is on second guitar. This show is good
but not great. The sound quality of the video brings the recording
down. I believe this show to be PRO-shot by the record store because
the circulating video has a different camera angle during "Sifting"
than what appears on MTV's Tribute to Nirvana.
SETLIST: School / Floyd the Barber / Love Buzz / Big Cheese / About A Girl /
Sifting / Spank Thru / Dive / Polly / Negative Creep / Blew
-06/??/89 Los Angeles, CA Al's Bar
-06/??/89 Long Beach, CA Bogart's
-06/27/89 Rockin' T.P. Santa Fe, NM
-07/??/89 Fort Worth, TX Axis Club
-07/??/89 Dallas, TX Concrete Jungle
NOTES: This show was 2 days after the Fort Worth show.
-07/??/89 Madison, WI O'Cayz Coral
-07/06/89 Minneapolis, MN Uptown Bar
-07/07/89 Chicago, IL Club Dreamerz
FORMATS: Audio, CD as "Bleach Out, Break Out"
QUALITY: B+ Audience Recording
TIME: 45 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: The best of the early live show recordings. First known performance
of "Scoff". This is a great show with great sound. Most early cassette
copies lack "Blew", which the newer CD includes. Date moved from 7/8/89.
SETLIST: School / Floyd the Barber / Love Buzz / Mr. Moustache / Paper Cuts / Polly
Big Cheese / Spank Thru / Dive / About A Girl / Scoff / Negative Creep / Blew
-07/09/89 Wilkinsburg, PA The Sonic Temple
NOTES: This tape was supposedly recorded by a gentleman that refuses to trade it.
Also, there is a tape circulating claiming to be this show but is infact a
butchered version of 7/12/89, thanks to Joe Hinchcliff.
-07/12/89 Philadelphia, PA JC Dobbs
FORMATS: Video, Audio
QUALITY: B+ Audience Recording (Decent Video)
TIME: 65 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: A good show, it features the only known live recording of the scrapped
B-side, "Blandest". Since the B+ version of the show hasn't been around
long, be wary of traders who may have the older, D+ version. This show
may be PRO-shot, since televisions hanging above the stage show a different
shot than the video circulating.
SETLIST: School / Floyd the Barber / Love Buzz / Scoff / About a Girl / Spank Thru /
Paper Cuts / Mr. Moustache / Big Cheese / Polly / Sifting / Blandest / Dive /
Negative Creep / Blew
-07/13/89 Hoboken, NJ Maxwell's
FORMATS: CD available as "Hoboken '89"
QUALITY: A-/B+ Audience Recording
TIME: 45 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: This is a really good show. Great recording. The "Polly" and
"Papercuts" are both great. Jason Everman on second guitar.
SETLIST: School / Floyd the Barber / Love Buzz / About a Girl / Scoff /
Spank Thru / Big Cheese / Polly / Paper Cuts / Negative Creep / Blew
-07/??/89 Jamaica Plain, MA Green Street Station
NOTES: Pictures of this are circulating with Kurt singing with no guitar, while
Everman plays solo.
-07/18/89 New York City, NY Pyramid Club (New Music Seminar)
FORMATS: Video, Audio
QUALITY: B Audience Recording
TIME: 25 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: A short set with second guitarist Jason Everman. A drunk guy gets up on
stage during "Floyd the Barber" and yells "fucking shit" into the mic
before being thrown off the stage. Everman follows him and beats him up.
Watch the time on the video: for some odd reason a lot of time passes
between Dive and Blew, meaning that this video is incomplete for now.
SETLIST: School / Floyd the Barber / Love Buzz / Dive / Blew
-08/26/89 Seattle, WA Center on Contemporary Art
FORMATS: Audio
QUALITY: C+ Audience Recording
TIME: 45 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: Typical early show, featuring the first performance of "Stain". Decent
show with a lot hiss in the background.
SETLIST: Spank Thru / Scoff / Love Buzz / Floyd the Barber / Dive / Polly /
School / Big Cheese / About A Girl / Stain / Negative Creep / Blew
-??/??/89 Springfield, IL ?????
NOTES: Krist mentions this show on 12/8/93. I'm guessing this maybe took place around
9/9/89, both shows were in Illinois.
-09/??/89 ???????, IA ?????
-09/09/89 Chicago, IL Cabaret Metro
FORMATS: Video, Audio
QUALITY: B/B- Audience Recording
TIME: 35 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: There is a 60 minute video circulating, but is only half Nirvana, and
half Sonic Youth. The Sonic Youth performance IS from this date. Nirvana
did open for them (so says Chad). He also told me that this recording is
incomplete, and they played, in addition, atleast three songs.
SETLIST: School / Scoff / Love Buzz / Floyd the Barber / Dive / Polly / Big Cheese /
Spank Thru / About A Girl / Swap Meet / Negative Creep / Blew
-09/13/89 Denver, CO Gothic Theater
FORMATS: Video, Audio
QUALITY: PRIV shot/B+ Audience Recording
TIME: 60 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: Another great early show. "Token Eastern Song" and "Even in His Youth"
are played for the first time. Pretty good video, few heads. Brian Johnson
pointed out that if you listen right at that the start of "Token Eastern
Song", somebody in the audience yells out "Swap Meet!" and then Krist
replies "No, Token Eastern Song". That about solves that mystery
completely. First known performance of "Imodium", too.
SETLIST: School / Scoff / Love Buzz / Floyd the Barber / Dive / Polly / Big Cheese /
About A Girl / Token Eastern Song / Even In His Youth / Imodium / Spank Thru
Stain / Been A Son / Negative Creep / Blew
-??/??/89 Toledo, OH Frankie's
-??/??/89 Louisville, KY The Machine
-09/23/89 Milwaukee, WI The Unicorn
-09/??/89 St. Louis, MO ?????
-10/03/89 Ann Arbor, MI The Blind Pig (w/the Flaming Lips)
-10/06/89 Cincinnati, OH Murphy's Pub
FORMATS: Audio cassette
QUALITY: B Audience (bass very loud)
TIME: 60 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: One of the newer shows. Good performance, with rare live versions of
"Token Eastern Song" and 'Even In His Youth'. Some girl keeps yelling for
an encore, so they play "Stain" and "Papercuts". Excessive bass on the
recording takes away from the tape.
SETLIST: School / Scoff / Love Buzz / Floyd The Barber / Dive / Polly
Big Cheese / About A Girl / Token Eastern Song / Even In His
Youth / Spank Thru / Negative Creep / Blew / Stain / Paper Cuts
-10/07/89 Lawrence, KS The Outhouse
-10/08/89 Omaha, NE Lift Ticket Lounge
FORMATS: Audio/DAT
QUALITY: A- Soundboard
TIME: 45 minutes
HIGHLIGHTS: While the whole show is being hoarded, this is the band's first real
soundboard recorded show. Clearest version of "Token Eastern Song", plus
"Even in His Youth", and "Papercuts". Great sound, although some sounds
bleed through. Some believe it's actually the Tad performance from the
same night on the opposite side of the tape. That would explain why
the recording is cut on both ends. The same guy who taped 5/13/90 taped
this show, and has not circulated the complete copy.
SETLIST: Dive (cut-in) / Polly / Big Cheese / About A Girl / Token Eastern Song
Stain / Been A Son / Negative Creep / Blew / Paper Cuts / Even In His
Youth / Imodium (cut-off)