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Live at Reading

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For the live album by Samson, seeLive at Reading '81.For the extended play by Slade, seeAlive at Reading.
Live at Reading
Live albumby
Nirvana
ReleasedNovember 2, 2009(2009-11-02)
RecordedAugust 30, 1992(1992-08-30)
VenueReading Festival,Reading,England
Genre
Length78:00
LabelGeffen
ProducerNirvana, Michael Meisel, John Silva
Nirvanachronology
Sliver: The Best of the Box
(2005) 		Live at Reading
(2009) 		Icon
(2010)
Nirvanavideo chronology
MTV Unplugged in New York
(2007) 		Live at Reading
(2009) 		Live at the Paramount
(2011)

Live at Readingis a live CD/DVD by AmericanrockbandNirvana,released on November 2, 2009. It features the band's headlining performance at theReading FestivalinReading,England, on August 30, 1992.Bootleggedfor years, the new issues present the performance for the first timemasteredandcolor corrected.

Live at Readingmarks the first time thatChet Powersreceived songwriting credit on a Nirvana release for the use of his lyrics from the song "Get Together"as the intro for" Territorial Pissings ".

Background[edit]

Nirvana's appearance at the 1992 Reading Festival was the band's second performance at the annual music festival and their first since the success of their second albumNevermindhad elevated them to the position of whatPitchforkcalled the "biggest" rock band in the world.[1]It was also their final concert in theUnited Kingdom.The band's first appearance at Reading had been on 23 August 1991, when they played an approximately 40-minute set on the afternoon of the first day of the festival, during their two-week European tour with American rock bandSonic Youth.

The 30 August 1992 concert in Reading occurred shortly after the birth ofFrances Bean Cobain,the daughter of Nirvana's vocalist and guitaristKurt Cobainand his wifeCourtney Love,vocalist and guitarist of the American rock band,Hole.[1]It was also performed amid press reports of Nirvana's possible dissolution, due to rumors of Cobain's addiction to heroin and tension within the band.[1][2]Cobain discussed the rumors in the 1993 Nirvana biographyCome As You Are: The Story of NirvanabyMichael Azerrad,calling them examples of "classic, typical English journalism.Sensationalism."[1]As Nirvana's drummerDave Grohlrecalled in a 2018 interview withKerrang!,“I remember showing up to Reading ’92 and there being so many rumours that we weren't going to play, that we had cancelled. I walked backstage and some of my best friends in bands that were opening would see me and say, ‘What are you doing here?’ And I'd go, ‘We’re fucking headlining!’ And they’d be like, ‘You're actually going to play?!’ I didn't realise there was any question that we were going to play."[3]

With Nirvana closing the third and final night of the festival, Cobain had programmed the day's bill, which featured acts likethe Melvins,the Screaming Trees,L7,Mudhoney,Teenage Fanclub(who allowedEugeniusto play one song after the tent they were due to play in blew down),[4]Pavement,Nick Cave and the Bad SeedsandBjorn Again,and intentionally excluded what Cobain called "lame-asslimeybands. "[1]The 1992 Reading Festival which Nirvana headlined was sold out and it was reported that the co-existing British music festival held atDonington Parkhad suffered an attendance loss of 10,000 as a result.[5]According to Grohl, there was an audience of 50,000 in attendance at Nirvana's 1992 Reading Festival appearance,[6]whileLoudersoundreported 60,000.[7]

The performance[edit]

Mocking the rumors of his poor health, Cobain was pushed onstage in a wheelchair, wearing a hospital gown and wig, by English music journalistEverett True.[1][2]He was met by Nirvana's bassistKrist Novoselic,who shook his hand and told the audience that "with the support of his friends and family, he's gonna make it."[8]Cobain pretended to struggle to his feet as he stood up in front of the microphone, sang a line from theAmanda McBroomsong "The Rose,"then collapsed to the ground.[1]After lying motionless briefly, Cobain returned to his feet, put his guitar on and the band immediately started their set.

The performance included most ofNevermind(everything other than "Something in the Way"and"Endless, Nameless"), along with several songs from their 1989 debut albumBleach,theSub Pop 200compilation track "Spank Thru,"and set list regulars"Aneurysm,""Been a Son"and the 1990 single,"Sliver."It also included a cover ofthe Wipers'"D-7," which had been released as a b-side on the "Lithium"single in July 1992, andFang's"The Money Will Roll Right In." The band also performed the unreleased songs "tourette's," "All Apologies"and"Dumb,"all three of which appeared on their final studio album,In Utero,in September 1993. Cobain introduced "All Apologies" by announcing, "This song is dedicated to my 12-day-old daughter, and my wife. She thinks everybody hates her,” and then encouraged the crowd to chant, "Courtney, we love you!"[9]Pavement guitaristScott Kannberglater recalled being impressed by the futureIn Uteromaterial, telling Matt Allen ofMojoin 2023, "The new songs sounded great. With 'All Apologies' it was like they were a completely different band. I’d seen them a bunch beforeNevermindand I was like, 'These guys are actually a lot cooler than I used to think.' "[10]

A large part of the audience sang along to the lyrics of the band's current single "Lithium," which Grohl would later cite it as one of the band's biggest moments.[6]The performance of "Smells Like Teen Spirit,"the band's 1991 breakthrough single fromNevermind,incorporated part of the 1976Bostonsingle "More Than a Feeling"at the beginning, a reference to the similarities between the two songs' main guitar riffs.[11]The show ended with Cobain playing the American national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner,"and the band smashing their instruments.

The show featured the band's friendAntony Hodgkinson,nicknamed "Dancing Tony," dancing onstage for 12 of the 25 songs performed.[12]It was the final of an estimated nine shows that Hodgkinson danced for the band, including their appearances at the 1991 Reading Festival and the 1990Leeds Polytechnic Students' Unionconcert.

Previously-released songs[edit]

In November 1994, the performance of "Lithium" appeared on the band's first home video,Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!.

In October 1996, "tourette's" appeared on the Novoselic-compiled live compilation album,From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah.

Amateur footage of Cobain's wheelchair entrance and performance of "The Rose," as well as the instrument destruction at the end, also appears onLive! Tonight! Sold Out!!.

Reception[edit]

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?8.5/10[13]
Metacritic93/100[14]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[15]
The A.V. ClubB+[16]
Billboard[17]
Entertainment WeeklyA[18]
MSN Music(Consumer Guide)A[19]
Pitchfork9.5/10[20]
PopMatters10/10[21]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[22]
Slant Magazine[23]
Spin9/10[24]

According toMetacritic,Live at Readingholds a score of 93 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim"[14]and it is ranked 18th on the site's list of best-reviewed albums, and first among alternative albums.[25]

Stuart Berman ofPitchforkcalledLive at Reading"an indispensable document of a legendary band at their most invincible."[20]Joe Gross ofSpincalled the set "a mindblower," describing it as "sloppyindie rockas stadium-filling psychedelic punk. "[26]Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine praised the release as "Nirvana's purest blast of rock & roll" and called it "one of the greatest live rock & roll albums ever."[27]

Cobain himself expressed satisfaction with the performance, giving it "an eight on a scale of ten," according toCome As You Are.[28]Looking back at the set in 2018, Grohl called it "a really reassuring, genuinely magical moment of everything coming together at the right time," despite the band's lack of sufficient practice for the show.[3]

The CD version ofLive at Readingdebuted at number 37 on theBillboard 200in the U.S., while the DVD debuted at number 1 in the top 40 on the magazine's Top Music Video Chart, remaining in the top 40 for 25 weeks.[29]Nielson SoundScan reported that, as of 2016 theLive at Readingalbum has sold 148,000 copies in the United States alone.[30]

Track listing[edit]

All tracks written byKurt Cobain,except where noted.

  1. "Breed"– 2:57
  2. "Drain You"– 3:54
  3. "Aneurysm"(Cobain,Dave Grohl,Krist Novoselic)– 4:34
  4. "School" – 3:12
  5. "Sliver"– 2:13
  6. "In Bloom"– 4:33
  7. "Come as You Are"– 3:34
  8. "Lithium"– 4:23
  9. "About a Girl"– 3:09
  10. "tourette's" – 1:51
  11. "Polly"– 2:48
  12. "Lounge Act" – 3:04
  13. "Smells Like Teen Spirit"(Cobain, Grohl, Novoselic)– 4:44 (DVD version includesBoston's"More Than a Feeling"intro – 5:30)
  14. "On a Plain"– 3:00
  15. "Negative Creep"– 2:54
  16. "Been a Son" – 3:23
  17. "All Apologies"– 3:25
  18. "Blew"– 5:23

Encore

  2. "Dumb"– 2:34
  3. "Stay Away" – 3:41
  4. "Spank Thru" – 3:05
  5. "Love Buzz"(Robbie van Leeuwen)– 4:56 (DVD version only,Shocking Bluecover)
  6. "The Money Will Roll Right In"(Tom Flynn, Chris Wilson)– 2:13 (Fangcover)
  7. "D-7"(Greg Sage)– 3:43 (Wiperscover)
  8. "Territorial Pissings"(Cobain,Chet Powers)– 4:30

Personnel[edit]

Production

Charts[edit]

Certifications[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdefgAzerrad, Michael (1994).Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana.Doubleday. p. 272.ISBN0-385-47199-8.
  2. ^abBertman, Stuart (11 November 2009)."Nirvana - Live at Reading".Pitchfork.Retrieved29 November2019.
  3. ^ab"Dave Grohl on Headlining Reading with Nirvana:" It Was a Genuinely Magical Moment "".Kerrang!.June 2018.Retrieved30 November2019.
  4. ^@eugenekelly (17 December 2016)."Teenage Fanclub at Reading 1992. They asked Eugenius on for a song as our show hd been cancelled 'cause bad weather"(Tweet) – viaTwitter.
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External links[edit]

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