Original Article: https://www.kerrang.com/features/watch-footage-of-nirvanas-last-ever-show/
Photo: Raffaella Cavalieri
On March 1st 1994, garage, grunge-rock superstars Nirvana played what was to be their last ever show .
Fresh off the back of ‘In Utero’ entering the UK charts at Number One in 1993, Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear were set to play their UK leg of their tour.
Nirvana were scheduled to play Manchester G‑Mex (March 27), Glasgow SECC (28), Aston Villa Leisure Centre (30 and 31), Cardiff International Arena (April 1) and four nights at Brixton Academy in London (April 3, 4, 5 and 6). The last two dates in Brixton added due to the first selling out in a matter of hours.
Though, in their prior European leg, it was a show in Munich, Germany on March 1 that would be the last anyone, ever, saw Nirvana.
The set list was a hit-studded, 23-track long masterclass of the band’s greatest hits and covers, featuring the likes of ‘Breed’, ‘In Bloom’ and a characteristic cover of Bowie’s ‘The Man Who Sold The World’. See the full setlist below:
My Best Friend’s Girl (The Cars cover – Moving In Stereo by The Cars was sung by Krist and Kurt as an outro)
Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
Drain You
Breed
Serve The Servants
Come As You Are (aborted due to power failure and played again)
Dumb
In Bloom
About A Girl
Lithium
Pennyroyal Tea School
Polly (Acoustic)
Very Ape
Lounge Act
Rape Me
Territorial Pissings
Encore
The Man Who Sold The World (David Bowie cover)
All Apologies
On A Plain
Blew
Heart-Shaped Box
Soon after the show, Cobain’s doctor made the call that the band needed to cancel the tour due to the iconic frontman’s quickly deteriorating health brought on through heroin addiction, which only made the rockstar’s ongoing health issues worse.
Three days later, Cobain slipped into a coma brought on through overdose; a month after that, the singer was tragically found dead at his home in Lake Washington Boulevard.
The last words spoken by the legendary Nirvana frontman, at his band’s last show ever, were a simple “well, thank you”: typically disingenuous, subtle and understated from Cobain that fans everywhere had grown to love him for. But you’re wrong Kurt, thank you.