Some moments are special for a select group of people because they just happened to be in the right head space to appreciate them when those events played out. Sometimes the combination of people, psychology and events just come together by chance; there's no possible way of knowing when that will happen. Some call it luck, others call it a curse but, either way, it changes all of them. One such occurrence was the rise and fall of Nirvana; even years (in this case, seventeen of them in this particular case) after the fact, the images and sounds associated with Nirvana still leap to mind easily, fluidly and at the mildest call. April 8, 1994 still marks a significant change in attitude for a lot of people because it was the day Kurt Cobain's body was discovered but, more than that, the images supplied by different media outlets forever a form of consciousness that some have never forgotten – and hope they never do.
That fact is what makes the audio and video release of Nirvana's 1992 performance at the Reading Festival in (the band's second performance at the annual event) in its entirety so special. Until now, the concert has remained a fantastic memory for those that attended and, as years have passed, little bits of audio and video have surfaced (Kurt Cobain's delivery to the stage in a wheelchair where he stands before the mic, delivers one line from “The Rose” and collapses was immortalized first in the intro to the Live! Tonight! Sold Out!! and the performance of “Tourette's” was offered up as the closer for From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah live compilation) over the years but, removed from the context of the show, they lose some of their significance. Now on this finally-released DVD though, the performances carry so much more weight because, while fans may have heard or seen parts before, where the magic happens is in the whole experience.
Everything – even the small bits of footage and audio that are previously documented and well-known – feels different and exciting on the Live At Reading DVD. That famous stage introduction feels brand new now with the discovery of a different camera angle that captured it and the digital remastering of both the audio and the video makes the presentation look and sound like the performance could have been shot yesterday – it's so crisp and fresh looking. It's a beautiful presentation of Nirvana caught in a charmed, inspired performance (they weren't all like this – Nirvana shows were regularly plagued by god-awful sound depending on the venue, and the live mix supplied by the man on the sound board). In fact, very few shows of this quality level have been presented to fans to date.
Part of the special quality that Live At Reading represents has to do with the set list that Nirvana performed. Prior to this point (other than the MTV Unplugged performance), most of the really good Nirvana footage available has been from the tours in support of In Utero (honorable mention to the show at the Paradiso Club in Amsterdam, 1991) which means that later material is also the focus for the sets but, at the Reading Festival in '92, the album of the day was Nevermind and the set reflected that. With the exceptions of “Something In The Way” and “Endless Nameless,” all of the songs from Nirvana's breakthrough album were still in the set at Reading and the presentation of them here is both a breath of fresh air and a relief to those long-time fans that have waited patiently for so long to get definitive performances of the Nevermind material. The takes of “Lounge Act,” “Stay Away,” “On A Plain” and “Territorial Pissings” are ambrosia as the band floors it through each and plays them all like they both mean and still believe in them; rocking and slamming the hell out of each and exuding a charisma that will make a believer out of anyone. There have been performances of these tracks released before from other sets where the band would fuck around or skip bits or the performances would be dogged by a tone-deaf sound man but, here, the live and breath anew. The same is true of even older songs like “Negative Creep,” “Spank Thru” and “Love Buzz” as well as (at that point) unreleased tracks including “The Money Will Roll Right In,” “D-7,” “All Apologies” and “Tourette's” are the icing on the cake for older fans; they're tight, they're solid and they're fantastic additions to the band's canon.
In the same way, the Live At Reading CD/DVD set is a better-than welcome addition too; after so many years, seeing such a fine performance by Nirvana if phenomenal from a nostalgia standpoint of course, but also a telling illustration of how much the game has changed in rock n' roll since in the seventeen years since the show. Simplicity ruled at a Nirvana show in a way that is very uncommon now. With a very small band and a very unadorned stage – there are moments here when the camera pulls back and shows just how small the band was – Nirvana still sounded like the biggest band in the world and were able to captivate audiences with songs – not spectacle. The proof of that is there on the Live At Reading DVD; the best live souvenir to come from Nirvana yet, it sets a new standard.
Artist:
http://www.hereisnirvana.com/
Download:
Nirvana – "School" – Live At Reading
Album:
Nirvana's Live At Reading CD/DVD is out now. Buy it on Amazon .
