#nirvana boston

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’m doing a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station, Part 2 looked at their April 1990 show at Man Ray and Part 3 looked at their April 1990 show at MIT.

The 4th installment looks at possibly their most legendary show they ever did in Boston and their first of the year 1991. Since the last time the band had played Boston a lot had changed. Drummer Chad Channing parted ways and the new drummer was Dave Grohl, formerly of Scream.

September 23, 1991: WFNX 8th Birthday Bash at Axis (Boston, MA)

show flyer (quite a lineup)

Lynn, MA independently owned and operated alternative rock station WFNX was first launched in 1983 on 101.7-FM. The radio station was one of my favorites in the 90s and I was so sad when they ceased operation in 2012. Prior to 1991, WFNX was one of the early supporters of Nirvana in the Boston area, which is why WFNX DJs Duane Bruce and Kurt St. Thomas were at the Man Ray Show in 1990. Nirvana's major-label debut album Nevermind was going to be released the next day on September 24, but just a few weeks earlier on August 29, St. Thomas played the Nevermind album in its entirety on-air for it's World Premiere. So when the radio station was gearing up for their 8th anniversary concert celebrations they set up shows with multiple bands at multiple venues on Boston's Landsdowne Street. At Axis, the bands included Cliffs of Dooneen, Smashing Pumpkins (their debut Gish was just released a few months earlier), Bullet LaVolta and finally Nirvana. Duane Bruce says "I feel bad for the other bands that were on the bill that night, like the bands that were playing over at Bill's Bar. They were all packed houses and nobody talks about those shows. I'd say there were close to 3000 people on Lansdowne Street that night if not more. Certainly 1500 were slammed into Axis." 1500 might be an exaggeration, but not far off.

Nevermind tour poster and Boston was the second stop

Nirvana arrived in Boston the day before on September 22. They stayed at the old Howard Johnson's Hotel on Commonwealth Avenue that has since become a Boston University dorm. Reportedly the band had dinner at Division 16 on Boylston Street with some Geffen Records and WFNX employees. Afterwards, the band went to The Rat AKA The Rathskeller in Kenmore Square to see their friends The Melvins, but they weren't on the guest list and it was local singer-songwriter Mary Lou Lord who urged the bouncer to let them in even though they weren't on the guest list. She formed a relationship with Cobain for a short time. In the documentary The Road to Ruane about The Middle East promoter Billy Ruane (that screened at IFFBoston earlier this year), Lord elaborated that she took Cobain back to Ruane's apartment in Cambridge that night and they listened to his record collection.

Cobain and Grohl doing press with WFNX earlier in the day (photo by Julie Kramer)

MTV News attended this show to film an interview with Nirvana and some backstage tomfoolery including a Twister game gone wild at Bill's Bar next door to Axis! Here is the raw footage of that wild Crisco Twister game with some of the members of Smashing Pumpkins and an interview with the band:

In my friend Jason Steeves' documentary We Want the Airwaves: The WFNX Story, DJ Angie C. noted that for several months the only live footage MTV had of Nirvana was of their coverage at the WFNX Birthday Bash, so every time MTV News did an update about Nirvana they cut to a clip of them onstage with the WFNX banner behind them, so it was like the radio station and the band were intertwined for a while there.

Axis had a capacity of 1000 and it was packed to say the least. Both Nirvana and headliners Smashing Pumpkins were not going to be playing clubs this size much longer. Boston's own Bullet LaVolta had built up a huge following by this point and were WFNX favorites. Their major label debut Swandive was released the same day as Nirvana's Nevermind, and they had toured with Smashing Pumpkins, Mudhoney and Soundgarden. Bullet LaVolta drummer Todd Philips says "For us, it was just another show playing Axis. We weren't even playing the biggest room, there was a bigger room next door at Avalon. Nirvana wasn't even the biggest band on the bill at the time." As Duane Bruce puts it "if the show was a steam train, then after the Pumpkin and Bullet LaVolta, by the time you got to Nirvana it was just pure black smoke". At midnight, headliners Nirvana's set began. Kurt St. Thomas did an intro. The band did a 49 minute set. They did songs off of Bleach and several from the about-to-be-released Nevermind.

Cobain on stage (photo by Steve Gullick)

Novoselic and Grohl on stage (photographer unknown)

Novoselic and Grohl (photo by Steve Gullick)

In terms of highlights, Todd Philips says "Sliver" and "Drain You", which he says "When I heard that, I said - holy shit, this is pop. This should be Top 40 music!" Very true! There is a reason some of the songs on Nevermind made the Top 40.

Here is the audio recording from YouTube:

Of the three times I saw Dave Grohl and Foo Fighters at Fenway Park (the most recent being this past July), I couldn't help but think he had played right across the street at Axis for that legendary show decades earlier.

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’ve begun a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I’ll look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station.

The second installment of this series is their second MA show!

April 18, 1990 ManRay (Cambridge, MA)

ticket stub

Since the last time Nirvana played Boston guitarist Jason Everman parted ways with the band and they were back to being a trio: Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Chad Channing (who was in his final months with the band). The band had done a lot of touring for their debut album Bleach, which was released on Sub Pop the previous Summer. On this particular date, the band was back in town for a show at the Central Square club ManRay, which was known as a goth club at the time.

WFNX's Duane Bruce was one of the early supporters of Nirvana in the Northeast and he was playing some of their songs late night on his show Radio Free Boston. He was at ManRay to emcee the show. He hung out backstage with the band and WFNX's Kurt St. Thomas (another early supporter). According to Bruce (he's also the author of Hang the DJ and the host of the American Debauchery podcast where he has discussed his time with Nirvana), Kurt Cobain said "So you guys are from a commercial station, on the other side of the country, and you play our music?" as Cobain put his arm around Bruce's shoulder and said "That's a first."

There was also an interview the band did before the show. That video has since surfaced online.

Nirvana interview backstage at ManRay

There were about 75 people in attendance. Local band The Bags opened this show. Crispin Wood, guitarist for The Bags, recalls "We hung out during their soundcheck and they hung out during ours." He says "The dressing room area was in the basement of ManRay. Pretty big space. The guys in Nirvana were nice. We partied together. Krist was the friendliest of the three." In attendance was Sluggo, who hosted Nirvana the previous Summer when they played Green Street Station and was in the local band Hullabaloo (they actually appeared on some compilation albums with Nirvana including Hard to Believe: A Kiss Covers Compilation). During Nirvana's set, Kurt dumped a pitcher of water on Chad. Sluggo says "Chad never saw it coming. Poor guy. But I suppose at this point he was use to the abuse - i.e. all the times Kurt would launch himself at the drumset." They mostly played songs from Bleach, although they did preview some songs off of Nevermind released a year and a half later, including "Breed", "In Bloom" and "Stay Away".

Cobain and Novoselic at ManRay photo by JJ Gonson

Cobain at ManRay photo by JJ Gonson

Photographer JJ Gonson, who got some great photos of them crashing at her apartment after the Green Street Station show the previous year, returned to this show to get some pics.

Here is the video recording of the show from YouTube:

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’m doing a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station, Part 2 looked at their April 1990 show at Man Ray, Part 3 looked at their April 1990 show at MIT and Part 4 looked at their Sept. 1991 show at Axis as part of the WFNX Birthday Bash.

The 5th and final installment looks at their second Axis show. The night before on Sept. 23, 1991 they took part in WFNX's Birthday Bash show at Axis. When a fan mentioned that he couldn’t attend the WFNX show because he wasn’t 18, the band decided to do a last minute show the next day at Axis that would be all-ages. Everyone talks about the WFNX show, but this encore show the next day flies under the radar.

September 24, 1991: Axis (Boston, MA)

show flyer

This is a very significant date in Nirvana history because September 24, 1991 is when their major label debut Nevermind was released. There was a significant buzz about this album leading up to the release. WFNX had been early supporters and invited them to play their Birthday Bash on September 23. They happen to have no shows scheduled on September 24 before they played in Rhode Island on September 25. Adding an additional show at Axis the next day to be all-ages was a last minute decision and it was pre-internet too, so it was all word-of-mouth for fans to get there the day it was announced. Earlier in the day, the band did an interview on WZBC, Boston College's radio station. During their interview, they played some tracks from Nevermind and gave away tickets to this newly announced show. Here is that college radio interview:

The night before, Boston rockers Bullet LaVolta played on the same bill as Nirvana at the WFNX Birthday Bash at Axis. Their drummer Todd Philips returned to Axis the next day. "I cut out early the night before because I had a lot of friends in town and I knew I'd be catching them the next day". He was just as impressed the second day. WFNX DJ Duane Bruce returned the next day as well. He says "I was smart enough to get into the DJ booth, which was elevated. There wasn't any duties I had, no one introducing them. It was a much less pressured show. Every cool kid from Framingham, MA to Nashua, NH was there, that started a band later." This was an all-ages show at 5PM, so there was less emphasis on alcohol sales at the bar of Axis, although soft drinks were available. Bruce looked at it as a pay-it-forward moment for Cobain where he had wished he could've seen Kiss for $5 in an all-ages show and now he could do it for kids.

setlist

For the show itself, they a lot of the same songs they did the night before, a mix of Bleach and Nevermind highlights, but this show also included some surprises like "Dive", "Territorial Pissings", "Pennyroyal Tea" (later a hit on In Utero), and best of all, a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction" but in the style of the Devo cover. Kind of a cool six-degress sort of thing that Devo's later day drummer Josh Freese (he joined Devo in 1996) joined Dave Grohl's post-Nirvana band Foo Fighters in 2023 and when I saw them at Boston Calling shortly after he joined, they went into a medley of songs by bands Freese was in, including Devo's "Whip It". But I digress.

Here is the audio recording from YouTube:

This unfortunately was the last show Nirvana did in Boston. This series is specific to Boston shows, but it is worth noting that the band did return to the state of Massachusetts two more times: During the In Utero Tour they played Springfield Civic Center in Springfield, MA on November 10, 1993 (the recording of "Sliver" from that show later appeared on the live album From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah) and on November 12, 1993 they played the Wallace Civic Center in Fitchburg, MA (where I went to college a few years later).

This year marks 35 years since the release of Nirvana’s debut album Bleach and it also marks 30 years since the passing of Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain. In honor of one of my Top 3 Favorite Musicians of All Time, I’m doing a multi-part series Nirvana Boston, in which I’ll look at all of the concerts Nirvana did in Boston. Part 1 looked at their July 1989 show at Green Street Station and Part 2 look at their April 1990 show at Man Ray.

The third installment of this series is their second MA show of 1990!

April 21, 1990 Senior House at MIT (Cambridge, MA)

the show flyer

Earlier in the week, Nirvana did a show at Cambridge club Man Ray. Then they left town and did at show at Swarthmore College in PA on April 20 and then they returned to Boston for a show that Saturday on the MIT campus in Cambridge. The band's lineup at this time was Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Chad Channing (who was in his final months with the band). A new stage had been built at the courtyard, but the show was moved to the basement of the Senior House due to the rain. Also on the bill that show was Little Debbie and Boston band Slaughter Shack (around the same time they were in the Rock and Roll Rumble). I spoke to Slaughter Shack vocalist Colin Burns who says "The thing that was amazing was that we were down the street from The Middle East that we had played before, but the people at the show at MIT seemed like they had never been to a show before. The energy level was just crazy. Like we brought rock to this college." He went on to say "I remember it was one of the most exciting crowds we had played to in a long time".

The band's contract for the show and the stage set-up

Cobain at Senior House, photo by Stacey Egan

Channing at Senior House, photo by JJ Gonson

Novoselic at Senior House, photo by JJ Gonson

According to a Nirvana live website "Krist ripped one or two bones off the wall from a sign spelling out "Sport Death" (a Senior House motto) and used one to play half of a song on his bass. He ended up sarcastically apologizing when a few members of the audience got upset, according to attendees." Local photographer JJ Gonson, who hosted Nirvana at her apartment the previous year, got some pics and she recalls "it was very hot. I have photos fogged by the steaminess."

Cobain backstage before the show, photo by JJ Gonson

I wasn't able to find much in the way of recordings of this show or a setlist of what was played, but my guess is it was similar to the Man Ray show with a lot of Bleach-era songs.

Next MA show: This series is specific to shows that Nirvana did in Boston, but it is worth noting that the band did a show less than a week later on April 27 at Hampshire College's SAGA in Amherst, MA as part of an Amnesty International benefit. J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr. (who was actually asked to join Nirvana) reportedly was the sound engineer at that show.