| Sound: |    7.5 |
| Setlist: | 7 |
| Enthusiasm: | 7 |
| Banter: | 7 |
| History: | 4 |
OVERALL: |
   65% |
02/21/94 - Palasport, Modena, IT
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| Sound: | 7.5 |
| Setlist: | 7 |
| Enthusiasm: | 7 |
| Banter: | 7 |
| History: | 4 |
OVERALL: |
65% |
Kurt on the 20th February had celebrated what was to be his last birthday, he turned 27 on that day and was treated with a rare day off for the occasion. The day after though and it was back to work as the band began their Italian tour. Italy is renowned for being the bootleg capital of Europe and up until the mid 1990's was home to many of the major bootleg labels in Europe. They located there to take advantage of the lax laws in the country in regard to the sale of bootlegs (which have since been tightened). It is therefore not surprising that the Italian tour is the best documented of the whole tour with every show being video taped and many having superior alternate audience audio sources.
Modena sadly is the worst of these in terms of sound quality, which makes it harder to judge than the rest and this review relies primarily on the video which although having a poor sound quality has some great close up shots of the band.
The opening songs pass well with competent versions of songs and it takes the band up until Come As You Are that anything really worthy of note happens. The crowd clap enthusiastically through the song and Kurt displays some rare showmanship during the solo as he attempts to play the simple guitar solo standing on one leg, unfortunately this causes him to sway and lose his balance and he quickly abandons the idea.
Kurt stands still largely throughout the show, even when he is hit by one of the frequent missiles that come in his direction during the performance. There is one though that he takes special interest in. During the solo of In Bloom Kurt interrupts his playing to pick up a portrait of himself that had been thrown from the audience and places it up on his face, showing a nice sense of humour. After the song Kurt says thanks to "whoever you are" and rather touchingly goes off to the side of the stage to deposit the portrait with one of the roadies for safekeeping.
"I'm going to tell my grandchildren that story" Kurt remarks just before Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunbeam. The band then made a false start to Jesus and Kurt sarcastically counts the band into the song.
After that come the real treat of the show, for only the second time the band play The Man Who Sold The World acoustically and the first time with Melora Craeger on the chello. Kurt gets off the chair for the solo and crouches on the floor before sitting himself down for the long screams and the continual playing of the guitar riff to finish off the song.
In the downtime between All Apologies and On A Plain, Kurt complains of the missiles being thrown at the band and Dave for comic reasons sings a line of the risible Brian Adam's song "everything I do I do it for you" to the boos and catcalls of the crowd.
The Verdict
This video is moving in a way it wouldn't have been had it not been for the events that occurred after it. It is hard to see Kurt illuminated by the pink stage lights playing Polly with his right foot resting on his thigh, seemingly at peace with himself without bringing out some emotion even though I have seen many videos of Nirvana's performances since I first got this one. Despite the poor sound quality it is hard not to like this show it has humour and touching moments both in equal amounts and has the rare treat of an acoustic The Man Who Sold The World.
Review written by Matt Seward 2002