| Sound: |    9.0 |
| Setlist: | 9.0 |
| Enthusiasm: | 9.0 |
| Banter: | 6.0 |
| History: | 6.0 |
OVERALL: |
   78% |
11/17/91 - Teatro Verdi, Muggia, IT
| Sound: | 9.0 |
| Setlist: | 9.0 |
| Enthusiasm: | 9.0 |
| Banter: | 6.0 |
| History: | 6.0 |
OVERALL: |
78% |
A tumultuous month. November 1991 saw Nirvana setting off for Europe for the second time that year, to promote their astoundingly successful album ‘Nevermind’. The week before had seen them make their debut TV appearance on ‘The Word’, and they were due to perform on the legendarily sick-making commercially orientated show ‘Top Of The Pops’, where they would wreak vengeance on the program that had bored so many British teenagers to tears. In addition to this, ‘Nevermind’ had hit the Top 40 with a bang.
Kurt himself had had a month of romance with Courtney Love. They were faxing each other on a regular basis, and as Hole were touring just after Nirvana, playing at many of the same venues, Kurt often left gifts and messages in the dressing room for Courtney. Sweet, isn’t it?
The romance and their success may have been the reason that Nirvana took Europe by storm, playing with exceptional gusto and altering the setlist as they pleased. This final custom resulted in many rare songs being played, and the historic jams of ‘The End’ by the Doors, and of course ‘Baba O’ Reilly’ by the Who. However, neither of these jams were played on the sixteenth November, the day before they revisited their old favourite Italian venue, the Bloom.
As we hear the opening chords of ‘Drain You’, it is clear that this concert is to be a good one. Kurt is singing passionately, the guitar and bass work is smooth and the drumming is an impeccable example of why Dave Grohl got the job in the first place. The crowd cheer and applaud during a well-played fill, and the band tear through the last verse and chorus with real energy.
‘Aneurysm’ comes next, a hallmark song that the band had been playing for almost exactly a year. The intro to the song is pounded out to rhythmic cheers from the crowd, and when we hear the vocals, it is truly obvious that the band love the song, and are pretty damn good at playing it, too.
Following almost immediately comes a song that Nirvana played probably more than any other: ‘School’. The fifteen-word classic is accompanied by a crowd who know the words, and with a solo to rival any other, as well as superb general instrumentation, the only troubles are two short guitar outages, one at the end of the solo and one towards the end of the bridge.
After more applause and a short tune-up comes everybody’s favourite psychotic hair specialist, ‘Floyd The Barber’. An energetic performance cannot be faulted, and some hardcore fans in the audience can just be heard joining in at the chorus. Next up is ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. The song had recently made its TV debut and is at its best, the band still happily playing it with genuine gusto and enthusiasm. They tear through the song with a chorus that makes you want to burn down the school and smash whatever guitar you can most easily reach. Generally, the performance is excellent, which is something that cannot always be said about this song, especially later on in the bands career.
‘About A Girl’ follows this, still going strong after two years on the setlist, and although the guitar work is not so energetic as on the previous song, it doesn’t take a genius to realise that it’s not supposed to be! The vocals are stark, the solo is smooth and the drumming is metronome-perfect.
There is a very short bass jam, followed by another melodic number, ‘Polly’. Sadly, the audience insists on clapping all the way through it and cheering at the bass interlude, but they do not interfere too much with what is a pretty good performance of the song. The vocals are not quite subtle enough to allow the song its total power. Probably annoyed by the clapping crowd, the band rock up the last chorus to ‘Bleach’-era standards, with Dave drumming heavily throughout.
As Dave momentarily tightens a hi-hat, the band begins ‘Lithium’. The first verse is above average, but this leads into a really strong chorus. With the crowd yelling out the (simple) lyrics to the chorus along with Kurt, the mood is passionate. The rest of the song is pulled off well, although this can be said of most ‘Lithium’s of the tour, or indeed of any.
There is some brief distortion and a little drumming before a ‘Breed’ that is almost as energetic as that of that Halloween. Again, Dave particularly stands out as being on great form. It is no wonder that this song is prominent on almost every Nirvana setlist from the end of 1989 to 1994.
Kurt asks for ‘Lights please’ before a few guitar chords, and then comes ‘Sliver’, a powerful performance. At the end of the first verse, Kurt teases the audience by changing the words to “nya nya nya, nya nya, nya nya”. The last two verses and choruses are truly passionate, especially vocally: Kurt’s singing is very, very raw.
Krist jams very briefly before ‘In Bloom’. Having just performed this song with my band for a GCSE music mock exam, it’s always nice to hear it done by a band with talent, which really shows here. The vocals and guitar are excellent, Krist makes the most of his smooth bassline and Dave drums really strongly. The reverb and distortion in the solo sound much better than the enforced minimum distortion with which we had to work!
Krist then comments that ‘We’re glad to see all those cossacks up front… we wanna see some of those high kicks and some furry hats and baggy pants’, presumably to some well-dressed audience members. Dave then announces “Been A Son”, before a blistering performance of the feminist classic which incites cheers. Kurt holds the guitar distortion at the end right up until the opening notes of ‘Negative Creep’, which truly comes into its own during this fast-paced, energetic performance. It was rarely performed badly, but this is, even so, one of the stronger versions. After a “One, two, three, four” comes an above average, though not excellent, ‘On a Plain’. The song is more or less flawless, but not as energetic as the rest of the set, possibly because the band is getting tired. The song is, however, highly competently done.
Next comes the classic set closer, ‘Blew’ after a short guitar jam. The song is very well done, especially the drums and vocals. A screamed chorus adds a definite contrast to a slurred verse, which nonetheless sports a decent lead guitar riff.
The encore, however, shows the band’s enthusiasm more clearly than anything else ever could. After ‘Blew’ there are cheers and some drumming from Dave, after which comes the first of only three performances of the catchy ‘Talk to Me’, the song which Kurt left in his will to Iggy Pop. The song is played very, very well with excellent vocals and instrumentation, the almost poppy riffs inciting more cheers. A deep, distorted solo leads well into the next verse, and the song really is a brilliant encore.
This, however, is not all. An equally rare performance of the excellent future split single ‘Oh, the Guilt’ follows, with a smooth guitar intro and killer vocals. Krist and Dave both play really well, but the vocals are the outstanding element of the performance, especially the bawled ‘GUILT!’ The song does translate very well into the live format, and it is a shame it wasn’t played more often.
There is more applause before Krist kicks into the ‘Territorial Pissings’ intro with a voice that sounds like it is underwater. The drumming is particularly strong, but the song as a whole is an excellent way to finish a top-notch concert. There is well-deserved applause as Kurt says ‘Good night.’
VERDICT:
There were better performances on the tour. There were worse performances on the tour. By the end of the year, Nirvana had made themselves legendary, and after a mixed Pacific Rim tour, Kurt married Courtney in spring. 1992 held much for the band, but it was also their first full year in the spotlight, which damaged them all individually.
However, on November the sixteenth, 1991, that was all in the future. The band was living it up, playing excellent shows and Kurt was enjoying a truly punk-rock romance with Courtney. Nirvana were living up to their name.
Review written by David Duell, Submitted March 2003