Nirvana: Live at the Paramount to air on VH1 September 23rd

By Michael Roffman on September 15th, 2011 in News

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Dude, have you heard? Nirvana‘s Nevermind celebrates its 20th anniversary this month. Gnarly, right? Depending on how much Nirvana news you’ve read in the past month, it might not be so radical or cowabunga-like. In fact, you might be Cobain’d out already.

If not, you might like this piece of news: On September 23rd at 11 p.m. ET/PT, VH1 will air Nirvana: Live at the Paramount, a rare gig that dates back to Halloween in 1991, only a month after their breakthrough sophomore LP shocked the world. Several mainstays off said album surface, including “Smells Like Teen Spirit”, “Lithium”, and “Polly”, though the band does scratch their back catalogue with cuts of “Love Buzz” and “Been a Son”. Altogether, it’s a pretty special performance, and if you have the channel, it’s absolutely free.

However, if you’re cable-less, you could always pick up the DVD and Blu-ray, when it hits streets September 27th. Peep a sneak preview of the event below, and stay tuned for our full-on Nirvana coverage next week. Flannel optional, of course.

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  • Anonymous

    Oh man, this is unbefreakinglievable –  first of all it doesn’t seem real that two decades have passed, secondly I never realized Nirvana was a trio at that point (no touring Pat Smear, no cellos,  or other fill-in members)  and third – Kurt Cobain is a much better guitarist than anyone ever  gave him credit for.  Not in a BS-Shredding squeally hair-band fast runs sweep-picking whammy bar nightmare… but just unbelievably solid transitioning from solid dirt rhythm to the clean/leslie riffs we all recognize from the recordings.  Trust me- if you’ve never played in a Guitar-Bass-Drums set-up you have no idea how difficult it is to pull that off, especially while doing the lions’ share of lead vocals.  I ‘got’ his mad writing skills back then – now  I have a totally new-found respect for Mr. Cobain’s abilities as a gigging musician. We can now also appreciate the no-nonsense “tune it myself – strap duct-taped on” approach” that is so counter to the stupid hair bands of just a few years earlier..  No entourage of “guitar techs” – Curt had to tune and de-tune on his own in the few seconds between songs – like real gigging bar bands do it. 

    What a damned shame he checked out early on us. What would he have become? This DVD also highlights what a great rocker Dave Grohl is – known in 2011 for his guitar-ing and lead vocals with Foo Fighters, he is an amazing drummer as well, playing with a very pared-down single bass-drum single ride-tom rig.  Now I understand where he learned to be a front-man (Cobain). I was just “retiring” from “classic rock” when the whole grunge thing hit and to be honest was too involved with babies to pay much attention to Nirvana at the time -but this is an important piece of USA music history captured and thank the Lord we did capture it.   PS – taking nothing away from bassist Krist Novoselic - also very solid (and with hair). Enjoy ! – Five or Fifty stars – however many you can add, and ten thumbs-up. Just amazing 

  • Anonymous

    Oh man, this is unbefreakinglievable –  first of all it doesn’t seem real that two decades have passed, secondly I never realized Nirvana was a trio at that point (no touring Pat Smear, no cellos,  or other fill-in members)  and third – Kurt Cobain is a much better guitarist than anyone ever  gave him credit for.  Not in a BS-Shredding squeally hair-band fast runs sweep-picking whammy bar nightmare… but just unbelievably solid transitioning from solid dirt rhythm to the clean/leslie riffs we all recognize from the recordings.  Trust me- if you’ve never played in a Guitar-Bass-Drums set-up you have no idea how difficult it is to pull that off, especially while doing the lions’ share of lead vocals.  I ‘got’ his mad writing skills back then – now  I have a totally new-found respect for Mr. Cobain’s abilities as a gigging musician. We can now also appreciate the no-nonsense “tune it myself – strap duct-taped on” approach” that is so counter to the stupid hair bands of just a few years earlier..  No entourage of “guitar techs” – Curt had to tune and de-tune on his own in the few seconds between songs – like real gigging bar bands do it. 

    What a damned shame he checked out early on us. What would he have become? This DVD also highlights what a great rocker Dave Grohl is – known in 2011 for his guitar-ing and lead vocals with Foo Fighters, he is an amazing drummer as well, playing with a very pared-down single bass-drum single ride-tom rig.  Now I understand where he learned to be a front-man (Cobain). I was just “retiring” from “classic rock” when the whole grunge thing hit and to be honest was too involved with babies to pay much attention to Nirvana at the time -but this is an important piece of USA music history captured and thank the Lord we did capture it.   PS – taking nothing away from bassist Krist Novoselic - also very solid (and with hair). Enjoy ! – Five or Fifty stars – however many you can add, and ten thumbs-up. Just amazing