Nirvana — Live At Reading

Nirvana's set at the 1992 Reading Festival in England is considered one of the greatest gigs the band ever played, and many consider it one of the best rock shows ever.

Live At Reading has been released as a live CD/DVD package, showcasing Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl's performance. It'd be hard to see this set as anything other than classic, or at least close to it.

Nirvana's Reading set contained tunes from 1989's Bleach, 1991's Nevermind, rare tracks and new songs that would appear on their final studio album, 1993's In Utero.

Cobain came out dressed in a medical gown in an attempt to poke fun at rumours about him being in poor health at the time, and his sense of humour is on display for a good deal of Live At Reading. He always held a great deal of disdain for "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and he purposely mangles most of its lyrics as a "fuck you" to the track, which is brash considering that song's probably the reason Nirvana even played Reading in the first place. Ironically, "Lithium" gets a full singalong from the crowd.

The version of "All Apologies" appears to be an early one with different lyrics (Cobain sings "All my words are grey" as opposed to "Everyone is gay" in the first verse). That's interesting today because it shows how the song evolved.

Overall, Live At Reading shows Nirvana's true power as a live act. Cobain and company don't let up a bit through this set, which sounds like they're pushing themselves beyond their limits and making it look easy at the same time. Sure, they were great on record, but they seemed like the kind of band you had to see live to truly appreciate. It's unfortunate that so many will never get to have that experience.

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