Nirvana would release their final and third studio album in-utero in September of 1993.
Unbeknownst to their fans, and some members of the band would be done 8 months later.
Today I want to talk about Nirvana's final concert.
In the months after Nirvana released in-utero they’d play MTV unplugged in november of 1993
and the same month perform on mtv’s program live and loud. Then in January of 1994 the
band would reassemble in the studio, but those sessions proved unfruitful.
In February of 1994 the band traveled to europe for what would be their final tour together.
It was originally planned to be a 3 month trek that would see them playacross the
entire continent and until April 8th.. Cobain who had been struggling with heroin addiction
for the past three years was finding it more difficult to find his drug in Europe
resulting in him going through painful withdrawals while on tour. Only adding to the problems for him
was that his wife Courtney Love and Daughter were back home and Kurt was feeling lonely.
On top of that the rigors of touring were taking a toll on Kurt’s voice and physical health.
Nirvana would play their final gig together on March 1, 1994
at an airplane hangar called Terminal 1 in Munich, germany to a crowd of about 3,000 people.This
wasn’t the final scheduled date of the tour, but rather a midway point.
The band had upcoming dates in late March for Manchester ), Glasgow as well as four nights
at Brixton Academy in London before finishing up the tour in Dublin Ireland on April 8th.
The band initially was only scheduled to play two shows at the brixton academy according to kerrang
magazine but two more shows would be added on after the first two shows sold out within hours,
which was helped by the fact that in-utero topped the uk charts. In the run up to the band’s
performance at Terminal 1, Kerrang magazine would write a review of the band’s show in Paris as and
i quote a “safe and conventional performance” and claimed the band looked and i quote “bored
and tame”, Esquire would publish excerpts from the book i found my friends the oral history of
nirvana & the book would detail the shifting mood in the band during their final tour which began in
portugal in february of 1994 the mood shifted from excitement to and i quote "By March 1,
the mood of the tour was at a perilous low as Nirvana strolled through virtually the same
ninety-minute sets they'd played every night for sixty shows over five months
and Cobain complained of illness—"bored and old" indeed. The Terminal 1 airport hangar where the
band played their final show wasn’t really a glamorous and the acoustics were terrible.
Cobain would not attend the soundcheck and according to author charles r cross
cobain instead went to the train station to see if he could score after asking his
tour manager to get an advance on his daily per diem allowance. Ahead of the gig possibly after
scoring Kurt allegedly got involved in a fight with his wife over the phone and then called
his lawyer Rosemary Caroll reportedly telling her waned a divorce according to the book Nirvana FAQ
According to The Melvins Buzz Osborne who was supporting Nirvana on tour supporting
them Cobain claimed he was soon going to be ending the band.
The band would open their show in munich show with a cover of the cars song my best friend’s girl,
possibly a reference to the problems he was having with Courtney Love at the time.
That song was followed by radio friendly unit shifter and drain you. . A few songs later in
the set the band performed their hit single Come As You Are the power would go out. Once the power
was restored the next song on the set their smash hit “Smells Like Teen Spirit” would be skipped.
This resuled in Krist Novaselic either saying as a joke or foreshadowing the future telling the crowd
“We’re not playing the Munich Enormodome tonight. Because our careers are on the wane. We’re on the
way out. Grunge is dead. Nirvana’s over. ... Our next record’s going to be a hip-hop record!” he'd
say. The group's show in Munich would clock in at just under an hour and a half at about 80 minutes,
the shortest show of the tour as the band finished up the set with Heart shaped box. Guitarist Pat
smear would tell the guardian looking back at that show 'Kurt's voice became noticeably more trashed
with every song. When we sang together, we sounded like cats fighting. His voice was sooooo gone,
but instead of trying to conserve it, he seemed to delight in pushing it to the
‘I won’t be able to sing for days’ limit. After a while it was a bit much" he'd say.
As the show wrapped up waiting backstage was the band’s agent Don Muller who recalled to the
guardian what cobain told him afer the show saying and quote. “That’s it,” “It’s over”. The tour was
done. Kurt would see a doctor the next day who diagnosed him with both laryngitis and bronchitis.
The group's road manager Alex McLeod would tell rolling stone what happened after the show saying
“Kurt was given spray and [medicine] for his lungs because he was diagnosed as
having severe laryngitis and bronchitis.” And according to Macleod, the doctor who
prescribed the throat spray to Cobain told him: “‘You shouldn’t be singing the way
you’re singing,’ the same as they always say. ‘You have to take at least two months off and learn to
sing properly.’ And he was like ‘f that.'” Due to Cobain’s throat problems and health
issues the rest of the tour would be scrapped. The following day himself and Pat Smear who apparently
he was only on talking terms with in the band headed to Rome to meet his wife Courtney Love
and daughter Francis Bean .Then a few days after their final show in Munich On March
4 news reports surfaced that the frontman was in the hospital after overdosing on champagne
and a sedative named rohypnol. Here’s the news story that MTV reported at the
time 'damage it was said the singer who was taking a break from the group's European tour
lapsed into a coma late last week after overdosing on tranquilizers and alcohol.
Last friday Cobain was rushed to the emerency room accompanied by his wife Courtney Love.
News got better saturday when Cobain regained conciousness. The doctor said Cobain's recovery
was in due to the quick thinking of his wife is due to the timely action of his wife to the
therapy also due to the efficiency of the Rome area hospitals the patient has been kept under
instrumental monitoring It would bea warning sign of what was to come as cobain's body would
be discovered at his lake washington boulevard home by an electrician who was there to install a
security system . The official cause of death was that Cobain had taken his life three days prior
with the coroner estimating that he had died 3 days prior at the age of 27.
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