| Sound: |    7 |
| Setlist: | 7 |
| Enthusiasm: | 7 |
| Banter: | 6 |
| History: | 8 |
OVERALL: |
   70% |
02/27/94 - Hala Tivoli, Ljubljana, SI
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| Sound: | 7 |
| Setlist: | 7 |
| Enthusiasm: | 7 |
| Banter: | 6 |
| History: | 8 |
OVERALL: |
70% |
Nirvana had more reason than most for trying to make this show special. As most of you know Krist Novoselic the band's bassist is of Croatian origin and Slovenia where the band played was just across the border from the country his parents came from. At the start of the 1990's after the fall of communism Yugoslavia, which was like the US in having a number of states began to disintegrate and led to wars in each of the separate nations as they declared their independence from their former rulers. This resulted in a series of wars, the first and least serious occurred in Slovenia itself before the war passed into Croatia and then Bosnia. Eventually the US and Europe intervened and managed to defeat Serbia and put an end to the conflict. As you are probably aware the Balkans war was one of the most lengthy and brutal of wars with many villages being annexed with its male inhabitants killed and their wives raped by the Serbian soldiers. The bands concern for the rape victims was shown in the bands organising a benefit show on April 9th 1993 at Cow Palace to raise funds for their aid.
It would have been no doubt the most important show the band would play on the tour, for these reasons and this show was likely very important to all of Nirvana's members not just Krist. It was also the only show of the tour to be professionally filmed in full. Although the full performance has yet to be found the first 3 songs of this show Radio Friendly Unit Shifter, Drain You and Breed were shown in full and clips were later broadcast of In Bloom, Rape Me, Territorial Pissings and All Apologies. This although incomplete is enough to give a flavour of the performance. As well as this is an audience recording, that although incomplete gives us the majority of the show and fills in a lot of the gaps.
It should perhaps be noted that despite being professionally shot the sound on the recording is rather flat and takes a lot from the performance. This is perhaps best illustrated on Radio Friendly Unit Shifter where most of the feedback is dulled by the sound mix, ruining the song's effect. The video though doesn't really show a particularly strong performance by the band seems to be more or less the same as the later shows of the Italian tour. Their movement seems forced and the performances appear to be that of a band with little enthusiasm despite the special circumstances of the show.
A different perspective of the show is provided by the audience recording from which we can judge the crowd's reaction which can only be termed 'celebratory.' The crowd claps enthusiastically for Dumb, as they do for most of the quieter songs in the set. It seems from the recording at least that they appreciate the gesture the band was making in touring so close to a region that was at the time ravaged by civil war and are really enjoying the show. Krist also gets the chance to try out his Croatian on the crowd who seem to cheer everything he says to them in their native tongue.
This enthusiasm though can't save the show from being rather ordinary, while it is an improvement on the recent lacklustre shows in the Italian tour it is a performance distinctly below the heights reached earlier in the tour.
The Verdict
It would be hard for any band not to rise to the occasion, given such a great crowd and indeed the performance is suitably enhanced with Kurt's voice occasionally sounding rather more tuneful than the throaty roar that it has been for most of the tour. It is not however, sufficiently enhanced to raise the show more than slightly above average. A fairly good show, but one where the band failed to rise sufficiently enough for the occasion.
Review written by Matt Seward 2002