Seeing Nirvana at City Gardens in Trenton
by Jim McGuinn, Program Director and Host, Y-Rock on XPN
Seeing Nirvana at City Gardens, Trenton, the week Nevermind came out. It was the early fall of 1991. Was musical revolution in the air? I can say that I was tired of my entire generation living in the musical shadows of the baby boomers. I love classic rock, but I’d come up through the indie underground of the ’80s and bands like The Replacements, Husker Du, R.E.M., and The Pixies had changed my life. However, none of them had penetrated mass culture in a big way – it was all a version of preaching to the converted, even as the number of converts was growing by the day. A glance at the charts sees Michael Jackson and Garth Brooks ruling the roost – until Nevermind came out and exploded onto the musical landscape. But that was still in the future when I went to see the show in Trenton – I’d just heard the album and was in the process of turning on everyone I knew to the music, when the tour came through. Not knowing much about what the band looked like, I remember being in the club during openers Das Damen and bemoaning the fact that an exceptionally tall, kinda dorky looking guy was standing right in front of me – I hoped he’d move when the headliners came on… and only when they did take the stage did I realize it was Krist Novaselic that had been blocking my view. The other defining memory of that show (besides the pure raw genius onstage) was that the moshpit was swirling very very close to the stage and I was amazed that Kurt didn’t flinch as feet and arms were flailing inches from his head while he stared straight ahead, far past us, as it turns out. A few weeks later it seemed like everyone was in on the secret. For a delicious couple of months it felt like the revolution had come to pass and we had WON (Eddie Veddar on the cover of Time!), then as the moneymen jumped in, and the clone bands rushed to Seattle and the radio playlists started narrowing, I was reminded of The Who and “meet the new boss / same as the old boss,” and maybe Kurt was too. But for a few months at the tail end of 1991, for a change it felt like the world was at my feet musically, and I loved it.
No, not Nirvana, but Paul Anka covering “Smells.” If Kurt weren’t dead already…
Thanks Jim for reminding me of one of my most memorable musical regrets, missing that show and also passing on another one by Nirvana that same week at the now departed legendary JC Dobbs in Philly because it was on a weeknight.
July 19th, 2007 at 9:34 amA week and a half later they would never play a club again, it was insane how fast it happened.
Ranks right up there with not seeing U2 at the Bjiou Cafe, Ripley Music Hall, & The Tower Theater for me when I had the opportunity.
Amazing how history puts some of those decisions that seem to make sense at the time into a whole different perspective.
I was also at that show, and to be honest, I thought Nirvana pretty much sucked that night. I remember a good portion of the crowd leaving well before the set was over, and the floor completely littered with Nirvana stickers. I thought Das Damen was actually much better than night … in retrospect I’m glad I went to see it as a part of history and all of that, and I certainly loved “Nevermind” at the time, but as far as a rock show, I was pretty disappointed.
July 28th, 2007 at 12:31 pm