03/01/94 - Terminal 1, Flughafen München-Riem, Munich, DE

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Sound:	9.5
Setlist:	8
Enthusiasm:	7
Banter:	3
History:	10
OVERALL:	75%

Few people even the most die-hard fans expected much from this show. Rumours abound the show and several differing accounts of this show had been recorded in the press of what was be Nirvana's final show. Some had an exhausted Kurt staggering off stage after Dumb, never to return, his voice shot. This was given credence by the official statement, which cited Kurt's laryngitis as the reason why with only 2 dates of the first leg remaining the tour was cancelled.

According to Melora there was a simple reason for the bands abrupt curtailing of the tour "He (Kurt) was sick. He had a sore throat and didn't want to play. They were looking for herbal cures and doctors."

It is hard to ascertain for certain what happened in this show. Charles Cross (2001) whose Heavier Than Heaven biography is as reliable source as any, says the set was 70 minutes and included 2 Cars covers My Best Friends Girl and Moving In Stereo with Kurt walking off stage after the latter song.

Cross also provides some revealing insights into the turmoil happening backstage. Kurt had apparently disappeared shortly after soundcheck ostensibly to visit the railway station but really to buy drugs. The drugs appear to have done little to improve Kurt's mood as according to Cross (2001) Kurt had before the show phoned Courtney. The phone call ended in an argument "as had all their talks over the past week." He then had phoned Rosemary Carroll and told her he wanted a divorce.

According to Melora it was not just personal difficulties that Kurt was suffering from there was also considerable unrest within the band in regard to the band's management by Gold Mountain. "They didn't seem to get along with management either, and they had a band meeting, which was funny. They're really innocent guys, and they are like (sarcastically) 'Well we can change our management. I'm sure we'd be a real asset to someone's alternative division. Maybe someone else would take us.'

This was however, not to be all, Cross reports that after watching the Melvins' opening set Kurt had visited Buzz Osbourne in the Melvins' dressing room and "unleashed a long list of problems." He appeared to Buzz to be the most distraught Kurt had ever been, which considering their long history and Kurt's turbulent past says a lot in itself. He apparently told Buzz that he was going to "break up the band, fire his management and divorce Courtney." Far from being an isolated outburst Kurt continued this right up to showtime and in fact just before walking on stage Kurt announced to Buzz that he should "be doing this solo." It is clear from this account that had Kurt survived his intention was to break up the band and that this concert may, even without Kurt's tragic death proved the last Nirvana concert.

Having said this it is worth noting that we are looking back in hindsight and Kurt had many times talked about breaking up the band and going solo as far back as 1989 and perhaps even before that. Also it is somewhat convenient to be revisionist and look back on these concerts in light of future events. It is worth remembering that we actually have firm evidence of the quality of the show from a video circulating of the opening 3 songs in the set. It is from this small portion that this review has been drawn.

Upon viewing the video, 2 rather strange things soon become apparent. The first of these is that Kurt isn't wearing several layers of clothes, as he usually did but only Jeans and a white T-shirt, which is itself rather unusual. The second point of note doesn't concern the band's apparel but the quality of the filming. It is clear even from the start that the camera itself is constantly going out of focus to a degree that most tapers would be embarrassed about let alone a professional cameraperson. This places into question whether the picture was shot by a professional cameraperson. The sound though is definitely soundboard.

Once those small oddities have been duly noted the next thing I noted notice was just how good the performance was. Having listened to the Italian shows and read many of the reports I had, as I imagined many others did; suspect the worst. While their previous fortnight's shows have been lacklustre this show has a verve, a kind of discordant energy that is reminiscent of their earlier performances in the tour. The band actually appears to be enjoying the performance. Kurt is seen at the end of the opener Radio Friendly Unit Shifter coaxing feedback out of his guitar and later on seen screaming powerfully just after the noisy interlude to Drain You. It is though the second song we hear performed that makes this show memorable.

Whatever prompted the band to launch into the Car's new wave hit My Best Friend's Girl is unknown but its presence on the final show of the band's career is striking. Like the Man Who Sold The World, Turnaround, Love Buzz and their Vaselines covers Nirvana take the song and put their own slant on it, a slant which rocks up the song considerably. Its appearance also shows that even near the end given Cross's (2001) account of backstage turmoil, the band's humour still comes through, which makes its appearance achingly poignant.

The Verdict

It is impossible to give an authoritative account of the final Nirvana show based on the first 3 songs of the set. It is impossible to know how the set progressed from a promising start to (according to Cross) a curtailed end after the second Cars cover Moving In Stereo. It seems incredulous that Kurt would add 2 new songs to the set, when he knew full well that this would be the last concert of this tour at least, yet if Cross is to believed then this is exactly what happened.

As with many of Nirvana's mysteries, the surfacing of new information leads to more questions than answers and leaves us with a choice of who to believe and in the case whether we can in fact believe our own ears. Was this really as good a concert as it appears? Or a shambolic end to what could have been a meteoric career from a band that most critics believe shaped the musical output of the 1990's and beyond? Perhaps it doesn't really matter that much in the end, it is after all only a show that had history turned out differently would scarcely worthy be of a footnote in the story of the band. It is I think worth more than that, but how much more we'll have to wait and see.

Review written by Matt Seward 2002

For more information on this concert, including an eyewitness account, click here.

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