LIVE NIRVANA BOOTOGRAPHY: Something In Milwaukee

Label: No Label
Catalog Number:  (WKD-002/003)
Recorded performance:  10-26-93 - Mecca Auditorium - Milwaukee, WI United States
Recorded performance:  09-23-93 - NBC Studios (Saturday Night Live) - New York, NY United States

Disc 1 Runtime:  70:58 / 18 Tracks
Matrix: NMW-10269 66066XK1 IFPI L601
Disc 2 Runtime:  42:29 / 9 Tracks
Matrix: NMW-10279 66055XK1 IFPI L601

Additional Artwork


Disc 1
01) Radio Friendly Unit Shifter 4:27
02) Drain You 3:47
03) Breed 3:17
04) Serve The Servants 4:12
05) Heart-Shaped Box 5:05
06) Sliver 2:38
07) Dumb 3:12
08) In Bloom 5:01
09) Come As You Are 3:42
10) Lithium 4:23
11) Pennyroyal Tea 3:45
12) School 4:36
13) Polly 3:35
14) Milk It 3:53
15) Rape Me 2:40
16) Territorial Pissings 2:24
17) Smells Like Teen Spirit 5:57
18) All Apologies 4:24
Disc 2
01) Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam 5:41
02) Something In The Way 3:45
03) On A Plain 3:34
04) Scentless Apprentice 3:50
05) Blew 2:44
06) Demolition 9:00
07) Heart-Shaped Box (Take 1) 4:54
08) Heart-Shaped Box (Take 2) 5:50
09) Rape Me 3:11
Something In Milwaukee

Live Nirvana Bootography Rating: A  96%

Live Nirvana Bootography Review:
Something In Milwaukee is the same release as Beautiful Demise (same discs and matrices, different titles and artwork). Something In Milwaukee was released in Japan, thus making it the more difficult to find. It's recommended that you pick up the 10-26-93 show on either of these titles. Below is the Beautiful Demise review.


This disc would have to be the best recording of the 1993 US tour.... not necessarily the best set list, but easily the among the best any show recordings. This sound on this disc is utterly amazing and could be compared to "Roma." Kiss The Stone has released this show as "Up In Smoke," however, the KTS version lacks "Demolition" and doesn't have any of the cool SNL rehearsal filler (last 3 tracks). This is definitely a disc to pick up.

The following review was submitted by bill rice (before reader review submissions were available):

A solid disc. The sound is crystal clear and the band plays with a lot of enthusiasm and power. Nirvana seems a little restrained at first, but they quickly loosen up by about the third or fourth song.

There are a few problems with the recording. At some points in several songs, there's a feedback squeal, like the kind you hear when you put a microphone really close to an amp. It doesn't happen very often, but enough to be annoying. This is really a minor problem, though. Beautiful Demise has the best sound of any In Utero show i have heard, on par with Roma. And, unlike Roma, they sound like they're having fun. Kurt actually talks several times at this show, a rare treat indeed. This disc is a worthy addition to anyone's collection, amateur or professional, casual or compulsive.

SHOW REVIEW:

DISC ONE:
Track 1: They start the show playing Radio Friendly Unit Shifter. Kurt's mic isn't working at first, but that's quickly fixed.
Track 2: Drain You is played next. The sound is good, but it's just an average performance. They seemed to be just warming up right now.
Track 3: They play Breed. They're starting to get more into it on this song. The solo is really good.
Track 4: Next they play Serve The Servants. Afterwards, Krist tells the crowd "Last time we played Milwaukee was at the Unicorn." He goes on to talk about a mexican restaurant owned by someone named Gus. Real useful information!
Track 5: They play Heart-Shaped Box. They sound a little looser now, like they're more into it.
Track 6: The next song in their set is Sliver. Kurt's vocals are a little overpowering in this song. The audience sings along to it. After the song, Dave says, "This is Lori. She plays cello for us."
Track 7: They play Dumb. The cello sounds really good. It doesn't overpower the other instruments as it does in some recordings. After the song, there's a short jam that sounds like the ending of a song, like a crescendo.
Track 8: Then Dave says something really fast, and they start playing In Bloom. Kurt's singing on this is awesome! He has to clear his throat after the second line because he sang it too low! After the song, Krist says, "Nice crowd. Must be something in the water." Someone in the audience answers him, but it's too low to hear what he says.
Track 9: Come As You Are is played next.
Track 10: They play Lithium. The audience sings along, and you can even hear them during the chorus! Yeh, audiences always sing along to this one, but you can really hear them in this recording. They sound as loud as the Reading '92 crowd!
Track 11: Next is Pennyroyal Tea. Kurt changes a line in the chorus, but it's too mumbled to make out what he says. Surprisingly, he recovers from the solo rather quickly! This isn't always the case.
Track 12: Kurt plays a weird guitar riff that seques into School. When the song is over, Kurt says, "That song was off our first record. We have a first record, by the way." (yeh, everyone knows Nirvana has a first record, just some people think it's Nevermind!) They play a short jam during which Krist announces, "Ladies and gentlemen, Pat Smear." After they stop playing the jam, Kurt says "He used to think he was punk rock at one time."
Track 13: They play Polly next. Again, the cello is mic'ed really well as it doesn't overpower the song. The bass part after the second chorus doesn't have bass in it. Instead, Dave taps on the drums. It sounds like this messes up Kurt because he stumbles a little on the last verse. It sounds like something was cut here, either dead space or something good, I can't tell. It's probably either a glitch or they just cut dead space. Nirvana possibly had some kind of equipment problem, because Dave plays a short drum fill after which Krist says "Do not be fooled by the lack of professionalism."

Track 14: Then they launch into Milk It which is mislabeled as Lounge Act on the back cover. Maybe someone at Primadonna Records knew how much a certain someone at digitalnirvana likes that song and wanted to fool him into believing it was on this disc!
Track 15: They play Rape Me next.
Track 16: Then Territorial Pissings.
Track 17: Then they do Smells Like Teen Spirit. When they finish playing Teen Spirit Kurt thanks "Jaw Breaker and Mudhoney for playing with us." Then someone in the audience yells something about the Wipers.
Track 18: They play All Apologies. The song ends with Dave drumming and Kurt and someone else (either Dave or Pat) singing the last line, "All in all is all we are."

DISC TWO:
Track 1: Krist says, "You guys are Milwaukee's best." Dave introduces the celloist, Lori Olsen (?) while Kurt strums the Jesus Wants Me chords. Then they start playing Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam.
Track 2: They play Something In The Way next, which is met with much "Woohoo!"ing from the crowd.
Track 3: Next, Nirvana played On A Plain. Funny that for what was essentially a throw-away track that Kurt wrote the words to minutes before recording, Nirvana usually played it at their shows. Well, it's one of my favorites, so i guess i'm glad that they did!
Track 4: They play Scentless Apprentice.
Track 5: Then they play Blew which seques into...
Track 6: Noise. And it's mostly just that: noise. while Kurt, Pat and Krist strangle their instruments, Dave keeps the beat, almost like a metronome. Then, three minutes into it, he starts playing the Endless Nameless beat. At about the 8 1/2 minute mark, the band starts playing Endless Nameless. It sounds really cool! Unfortunately, the recording ends soon after. What happened?! Did the taper run out of room on his eight track or minidisc or whatever he used to record the show? It's a shame because the version of Endless Nameless that they start playing sounds awesome.
Track 7: The rest of the disc is filler. The last three songs are rehearsals for the '93 Saturday Night Live performance. The first song is Heart-Shaped Box. The sound during the chorus isn't that good, however. Kurt's vocals are too high in the mix and overpower the rest of the instruments. The guitars aren't loud enough. This problem clears up by the end of the song at least.
Track 8: They start playing Rape Me, then stop and then start playing Heart-Shaped Box again. Occassionally, the guitars sound too thin. Krist's bass is a little loud, but it's cool to hear since he's such a great bass player.
Track 9: They play Rape Me this time. Again, Kurt's voice is too loud during the loud parts of the song. Pat sings harmonies. What's cool about that is that he shouts one of the lines in the bridge! It's really cool.

IN CONCLUSION:
This disc is features a solid performance by Nirvana during their In Utero tour. The sound quality is excellent except for some bad feedback in a few parts. Endless Nameless was cut for whatever reason, which is a shame, but the rest of the show is intact and is awesome. The filler was a nice addition, though most casual collectors won't listen to it more than once. And why they included the SNL rehearsals, but not the actually show as well is beyond me. Still, it's better than nothing.





Mislabels:
"Milk It" Labeled As "Lounge Act"

Other Disc(s) Containing These Dates:
10-26-93 - Mecca Auditorium - Milwaukee, WI United States
   Beautiful Demise
   Up In Smoke
09-23-93 - NBC Studios (Saturday Night Live) - New York, NY United States
   Beautiful Demise
   Fighting The 'N' Factor

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