Music

Check out a 1991 bootleg of one of Nirvana's first Vancouver shows

by Richard Howard

Correction: Nirvana’s first Vancouver show was actually March 12, 1990 at the Town Pump. Here’s another bootleg to express our apology.

In a time before digital cameras, cellphones and GoPros, the only way to experience a live show you missed was getting your hands on an audio recording some sneaky concertgoer had captured with a hand-held tape recorder (or if you were really lucky, audio recorded directly off the board by an enterprising sound guy). Luckily, back in those days there was a fervent bootleg trade and the pickings were a-plenty.

Today, you’ll instantly get laughed off the Imagine Dragons fansite for offering up a sweet audio recording of their show in Des Moines – but fans of older bands still love when a previously unheard bootleg pops up.

That’s why Canadian Nirvana fans are pretty jacked about the re-posting of Nirvana’s first visit to Vancouver’s famous Commodore Ballroom 25 years ago (nearly to the day). The songs from the bootleg have been floating around the net for a while but the entire show as a whole is now up on the RareNirvana YouTube channel, complete with archival photos of tickets, posters, and the show itself.

The show took place on March 8, 1991. Shortly before the release of Nevermind, it was that now-inconceivable time when Nirvana acted as support for the night’s headliners (in this case, The Screaming Trees) on a four-band bill that’d cost you all of $13. This particular show is often touted as one of their finest gigs of that period – and even if you’ve never heard a note of it, you’ve seen Kurt in action during the set. The iconic black and white photo snapped by Charles Peterson where Cobain appears to be doing a headstand while playing was taken at the Commodore that night.

To add to the Canadiana of the whole thing, there was also a hilarious radio interview with a presumably high-as-hell bassist Krist Novoselic conducted by non other than Vancouver’s own Nardwuar.

If all this archaic aural-only entertainment is bumming you out, we’ve got your back – here’s a video from the show of Nirvana performing “Breed” and “Territorial Pissings.”

[h/t Vancouver Sun]