Another mediocre year of audience shot videos. The saving grace for Nirvana fans is the bands appearance on a few European television shows, as well as quite a few songs or short clips from their European tour, which were broadcast on overseas television.
Rape Me/ Pennyroyal Tea/ Drain You
Quality:Nice pro shot.
Notes: The band is wearing matching suits, and even bows like the Beatles after the songs. Pat and Krist are having a fun time. Our boy Dave gets some quality time with fantastic shots like this. Kurt drops to his knees for a solo, and for the most part seems to be having a good time.... until Drain You. During the solo, Kurts guitar stops working. When it just won't work, Kurt throws the guitar onto the ground. Kurt continues without a guitar, leaning into the mic with a Johnny Rotten pose.
This is the performance where Kurt sings "give me a Leonard Nimoy afterworld". At one point in Drain You, it sounds as if he's saying "it is now my duty to completely SLAY you".
Rape Me
Quality: This is pro shot and multicamera. The view runs the gamut from the back of the venue to mid length shots of the Krist and the band, and even to close ups of Kurts hands. Dave has some close ups, but Pat is only seen in far shots of the stage.
Notes: So far this is the only song that has been broadcast from this show. This version was broadcast on tv show, Big.
Rape Me
Quality: This is pro shot but on a single cam from the back of the venue. The sound is supposed to be slightly better than the multicam shot.
Notes: So far this is the only song that has been broadcast from this show. This version was broadcast on MCM.
Quality:
Notes:
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter / Drain You / Breed / Come As You Are / Serve the Servants / Smells Like Teen Spirit / Sliver / Dumb / In Bloom / About A Girl / Lithium / Pennyroyal Tea / School / Polly / Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle / Very Ape / Rape Me / Territorial Pissings / Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam / The Man Who Sold the World / All Apologies / On A Plain / Scentless Apprentice / Heart-Shaped Box
Quality:This was taped from the balcony. As the taper was fairly far away, there aren't any close ups. The camerawork is okay, but a bit shakey. No obstructions to speak of, but there a couple of points where someone's head is blocking Pat. The picture is slightly blurry. The sound is bad.
Notes:There isn't really anything about this video that makes it essential. The performance is average, and the show is unremarkable. One thing of interest - when the bands starts Polly, Kurt asks the crowd not to clap. Everytime the crowds clap, they clap too fast, and it screws up the bands timing. Strangely enough, the songs starts and the crowd claps along?! Kurt doesn't really say anything else during the whole show. During Jesus, you can see Dave playing a guitar though he's still sitting at the drums.
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter/ Drain You/ Breed/ Serve The Servants/ Come As You Are/ Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Sliver/ Dumb/ In Bloom/ About A Girl/ Lithium/ Pennyroyal Tea/ School/ Polly/ Very Ape/ Lounge Act/ Rape Me/ Territorial Pissings/ Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam/ The Man Who Sold The World/ All Apologies/ On A Plain/ Scentless Apprentice/ Heart-Shaped Box
Quality:
Notes:Show is pretty average.
interviews/ Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Lithium/ Pennyroyal Tea/ Rape Me
Quality: Pro shot from the back of the venue, so we don't get anything close. Most of the shots are of two members of the band, or a mid length shot of one person in the band.
Notes: This broadcast was of only a couple of songs, plus a short interview. Although the pro shot video never gets very close, it is still much better than most of the audience shot videos from 1993 or 1994.
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter/ Drain You/ Breed/ Serve The Servants/ Come As You Are/ Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Sliver/ Dumb/ In Bloom/ About A Girl/ Lithium/ Pennyroyal Tea/ School/ Polly/ Very Ape/ Lounge Act/ Rape Me/ Territorial Pissings/ All Apologies/ On A Plain/ Scentless Apprentice/ Heart-Shaped Box
Quality:
Notes:Filmed from a couple angles. Quality is good. The band plays ok but Kurt just lacks the energy of earlier shows.
Serve The Servants/ Dumb
Quality: An appearance on a European tv program, where the band appears in front of a back drop of a tunnel, hence the programs name. The cameramen shoot from some wierd angles. There are some good closeups of Kurt.
Notes: Kurt has some problems with his guitar during a solo. Here's an interesting angle, once again, of Kurt and Krist, during a solo.
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter/ Drain You/ Breed/ Serve The Servants/ Come As You Are/ Smells Like Teen Sprit/ Sliver/ Dumb/ In Bloom/ About A Girl/ Lithium/ Pennyroyal Tea/ School/ Polly/ Very Ape/ Lounge Act/ Rape Me/ Territorial Pissings/ All Apologies/ On A Plain/ Blew/ Heart-Shaped Box
Quality:This is shot from the side.
Notes: Good quality but a fairly normal show.
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter/ Drain You/ Breed/ Serve The Servants/ Come As You Are/ Smells Like Teen Sprit/ Sliver/ Dumb/ In Bloom/ About A Girl/ Lithium/ Pennyroyal Tea/ School/ Polly/ Very Ape/ Lounge Act/ Rape Me/ Territorial Pissings/ All Apologies/ On A Plain/ Blew/ Heart-Shaped Box
Quality: This video is shot from the front, probably from a balcony or seats. The camera work is good, and the taper does a good job with the focus. Sometimes the shot does get shakey, and in a song or two there are brief obstructions as people's heads get in the way. During half of Sliver, the camera is aiming at the lights and P.A. The sound is clear, though the vocals could be up higher in the mix. Dave is usually in the dark, but when the lights are bright, you can see him. Pat is in it occasionally.
Notes:The band seems to be in a fairly good mood. Even Kurt jokes with Krist, jumps around during Breed, and plays the riff to Boston's "More Than a Feeling" to start off Smells Like Teen Spirit. The band doesn't say much to the crowd, but does make several Meat Loaf references. Early in the show Krist says "I'm (someone)". Kurt replies, "Oh no you're not. You're Meat Loaf". Later, as the band gets ready to play School, Krist announces, "This is off our first record called Bat out of Hell."
During Polly, the crowd starts clapping double time, and Krist claps at half time to try to get the crowd to slow down. The crowd just keeps clapping fast. Krist shakes his head, and leans over to speak to Pat. When the band comes out for an encore, Kurt plays about 10 seconds of a single note solo, and then says "... see if I'll be in your readers poll as musician of year." Before Blew, Krist quotes a 1970's Mac Davis song as he quotes "I believe in music... I believe in love."
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter/ Drain You/ Breed/ Serve The Servants/ Come As You Are/ Smells Like Teen Sprit/ Sliver/ Dumb/ In Bloom/ About A Girl/ Lithium/ Pennyroyal Tea/ School/ Polly/ Very Ape/ Lounge Act/ Rape Me/ Territorial Pissings/ All Apologies/ On A Plain/ Blew/ Heart-Shaped Box
Quality:This is shot with multiple cameras from the back of the venue.
Notes:
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter/ Drain You/ Breed/ Serve The Servants/ Come As You Are/ Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Sliver/ Dumb/ In Bloom/ About A Girl/ Lithium/ Pennyroyal Tea/ School/ Polly/ Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle/ Verse Chorus Verse/ Rape Me/ Territorial Pissings/ All Apologies/ On A Plain/ Scentless Apprentice/ Heart-Shaped Box
Quality:This video is shot from the left side, from the balcony. The picture isn't very sharp. The taper actually gets a pretty good shot, compared to most videos from the In Utero tour. The shot of Kurt and Krist above illustrates the close shot. There aren't many shots of Dave as he is blocked by the drums or the p.a. Most of the video is either Kurt or shots of the band.
Notes: The most notable things about this show are that Kurt plays most of the solos sitting down in a chair, and he's wearing a winter hat. In other words, nothing really distinctive happens at this show.
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter/ Drain You/ Breed/ Serve The Servants/ Come As You Are/ Smells Like Teen Spirit/ Sliver/ Dumb/ In Bloom/ About A Girl/ Lithium/ Pennyroyal Tea/ School/ Polly/ Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle/ Verse Chorus Verse/ Rape Me/ Territorial Pissings/ All Apologies/ On A Plain/ Scentless Apprentice/ Heart-Shaped Box
Quality:This video is shot from the front.
Notes: The most notable things about this show are that Kurt plays most of the solos sitting down in a chair, and he's wearing a winter hat. In other words, nothing really distinctive happens at this show.
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter / Drain You / Breed
Quality: Pro video from a Croatian tv show. Dave is hidden behind the drums, but Kurt and Krist get better shots.
Notes: There is an interview with Krist - in Croatian no less - after the footage of the band on stage. Before the Nirvana footage, there is a Melvins feature, which is live footage, and a brief interview with the entire band.
There is also a different version of the interview in English. In this one,
Krist and the interviewer are walking around the city. There are images of
war and people. After that, there are pictures of fans after the concert.
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter/ My Best Friend's Girl > Moving in Stereo (first verse only)/ Drain You
Quality: This pro footage actually includes Pat, who tends to be ignored usually.
Notes: Nirvana's last show ever - three songs have been shown on German television. One of the songs is a cover of the Cars song, My Best Friend's Girl. At the end, Dave (or is it Krist?) sings the first verse of Moving in Stereo, another Cars song.