LIVE NIRVANA Concert Chronology January 16, 1993 - Estádio Cícero Pompeu de Toledo (Hollywood Rock Festival), São Paulo, BR
Artist
- NIRVANA
- Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar, backing vocals, drums)
- Krist Novoselic (bass, backing vocals, vocals, guitar)
- Dave Grohl (drums, backing vocals, vocals, bass)
- Flea (trumpet)
Crew
- Alex MacLeod (tour manager)
- Jeff Mason (production manager)
- Susanne Sasic (lighting designer)
- Craig Montgomery (sound engineer)
- Ian Beveridge (monitor engineer)
- Earnie Bailey (guitar technician)
- John Duncan (guitar technician)
- Barrett Jones (drum technician)
Buyer
- Souza Cruz
Schedule
- Load In
- 12:30
- Soundcheck
- 14:45
- Doors
- 17:30
- Dr. Sin Showtime
- 19:30
- Engenheiros do Hawaii Showtime
- 20:20
- L7 Showtime
- 21:50
- NIRVANA Showtime
- 23:30
Soundcheck incomplete
- Scentless Apprentice
- Heart-Shaped Box
- Milk It
Set incomplete
- School
- Drain You
- Breed
- Sliver
- In Bloom
- About A Girl
- Dive
- Come As You Are
- Molly's Lips
- Lithium
- (New Wave) Polly
- D-7
- Smells Like Teen Spirit Flea on trumpet
- On A Plain
- Negative Creep
- Something In The Way
- Blew
- Run To The Hills jam
- jam
- jam
- Heartbreaker jam
- We Will Rock You part of KC drums and V., DG bass and V.
- Seasons In The Sun KC drums and V., DG bass, KN guitar (DG/KN B.V)
- Kids In America KC drums, DG bass and V., KN guitar (KC/KN B.V)
- Should I Stay Or Should I Go KC drums and V., DG bass, KN guitar
- 867-5309/Jenny KC drums and V., DG bass, KN guitar
- Rio KC drums and V., DG bass and V., KN guitar and V. (KC/DG B.V)
- Lounge Act jam
- Territorial Pissings
- Heart-Shaped Box
- Scentless Apprentice
Set Range
Circulating Recordings
SBD #1 incomplete
- Equipment:
- Soundboard > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- DAT(M) > ANA(1) > FLAC
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 52:41 min / 10
- Notes:
- • Surfaced in January 2014.
- • Missing everything before "D-7", which cuts in, and everything after "Territorial Pissings".
- • "Smells Like Teen Spirit" cuts out and "On A Plain" cuts in.
- • The master is believed to be complete and also includes the soundcheck.
PRO #1 incomplete
- Equipment:
- Soundboard > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- MASTER > ASF
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 09:20 min / 9.0
- Notes:
- • Shot by Globo TV with two cameras and soundboard audio.
- • Includes only half of "Drain You", most of "Breed", and clips of "Sliver", "Scentless Apprentice", the end-of-show destruction, and the band jamming on "Run To The Hills" and "Heartbreaker".
- • Released as ASF video files on Globo TV's website in April 2003.
PRO #2 incomplete
- Equipment:
- Unknown > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- VHS(X) > MKV
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 09:54 min / 9.0
- Notes:
- • Previously listed as VHS(1), which was found to be incorrect.
- • An Upgraded transfer was circulated July 26th 2018.
- • Single camera PRO-shot video, filmed from the audience with clear audience audio, broadcast by MTV Brazil.
- • Includes only "School", "Drain You", some banter about lights, the very end of "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and "Seasons In The Sun".
- • Has cuts in "Drain You", "Smells Like Teen Spirit", and "Seasons In The Sun".
- • This is believed to be all that MTV shot, althought it's missing the João Gordo intro.
PRO #3a incomplete
- Equipment:
- Built In > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- MASTER > BETA(1) > MKV
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 10:22 min / ??
- Notes:
- • Higher quality and lower generation, but less complete at the beginning and at the end than PRO #3b.
- • Single camera PRO-shot video, shot from an elevated position, back right of the venue, broadcast by TV Cultura.
- • Includes only "School", "Drain You", some banter about lights and "Breed".
PRO #3b incomplete
- Equipment:
- Built In > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- MASTER > BETA(1) > U-MATIC(2) > MKV
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 11:12 min / ??
- Notes:
- • More complete, but lower quality than PRO #3a.
- • Single camera PRO-shot video, shot from an elevated position, back right of the venue, broadcast by TV Cultura.
- • Includes some pre-show footage, "School", "Drain You", some banter about lights, "Breed" and the band getting ready to play "Sliver".
- • Also includes a 3rd audio track from another tape: MASTER > BETA(1) > U-MATIC(2) > BETA(1). It's uncertain if this track is a true stereo or a double mono audio.
PRO CLIP #1a incomplete
- Equipment:
- Soundboard > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- TV > VHS(2) > DVDR
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 50 sec / 9.5
- Notes:
- • Shot by Globo TV with two cameras and soundboard audio.
- • Same shot as PRO #1, but features higher quality clips of "Breed", "Sliver", the first destruction during "Heartbreaker-jam" and the second destruction during "Scentless Apprentice" have been broadcast on Globo TV show called "Fantástico" in 2003.
PRO CLIP #1b incomplete
- Equipment:
- Soundboard > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- TV > VHS(x) > DVD
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 20 sec / ??
- Notes:
- • Shot by Globo TV with two cameras and soundboard audio.
- • Broadcasted by TV Globo show called "Globo Repórter" in 01/22/93.
- • Same shot as PRO #1 but include clips not present on PRO #1.
- • Clips (without audio) of "Sliver", the first destruction during "Heartbreaker-jam" and Kurt doing a "guitar flip" around his neck, Kurt throwing a light stage in the middle of "Scentless Apprentice" or "Heart-Shaped Box" and the second destruction during "Scentless Apprentice".
PRO CLIP #2a incomplete
- Equipment:
- Unknown > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- Official DVD/LD [Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!]
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 10 sec / 9.0
- Notes:
- • Single camera PRO-shot video, filmed from the audience with clear audience audio.
- • Same shot as PRO #2, but features the band being introduced by João Gordo from the brazilian band "Ratos de Porão".
PRO CLIP #2b incomplete
- Equipment:
- Unknown > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- VHS(2) > DVDR
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 34 sec / 8.5
- Notes:
- • Single camera PRO-shot video, filmed from the audience with clear audience audio, broadcast by MTV Brazil.
- • Features only 34 seconds of clips of "Milk It" and "Scentless Apprentice" from the soundcheck.
- • Broadcast by MTV Brazil.
PRO CLIP #4 incomplete
- Equipment:
- Unknown > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- MASTER > YouTube
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 20 sec / ?
- Notes:
- • Posted on the YouTube Channel of BTV in August 2015
- • Include clips (without audio) of "Drain You", shot from left side, and at least some images from another camera angle, shot from the right side of the stage.
- • A Brazilian crew from BTV was responsible for the Hollywood Rock "Making of" documentary, it's unknown whether it was a BTV crew who taped the concert.
PRO CLIP #5 incomplete
- Equipment:
- Unknown > Unknown
- Lowest Generation:
- Unknown > YouTube
- Length / Sound Quality:
- 30 sec / ?
- Notes:
- • Posted on the YouTube on July 17th, 2023
- • Single camera PRO-shot video by MTV Brazil.
- • Includes a clip of "Heart-Shaped Box" during soundcheck, shot from the very back of the venue.
- • Has talking over most of the audio.
Uncirculated Recordings
AMT #1
In the documentary "L7: Pretend We're Dead", you can see some clips of the L7 show. Maybe L7 taped parts of the Nirvana concert as well.
AMT #2
It's rumored there was another person taping part of the soundcheck in front of the stage.
Notes
- Nirvana played for about 105 minutes and did a jam session for 50,000 people, according to the local media and reviews.
- There was at least 3 cameras on the stage and 2 in the back of the venue. Two big video screens on both sides of the stage screened all the concerts for the crowd, but it is not known if these shots were recorded in their entirety .
- Kurt seemed to be highly doped on medication (Dave says that Kurt got a lot of Valium before the show), most of the time he was playing at low speed. The performance was so horrible that some of the audience left, according to a review.
- Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers played trumpet on "Smells Like Teen Spirit".
- It seems that Kurt forgot how to play or couldn't hear Krist through the monitors during "Negative Creep" and the first attempt of "Blew". You can hear Krist teaching him how to start the song, but Krist and Dave start it without the usual first chords of "Negative Creep" and first attempt of "Blew" was aborted.
- During "Something In The Way" Kurt changed a lot the lyrics.
- After "Blew", the band did play some "jam's", Kurt did a "guitar flip" around his neck, smashed his black Fender Stratocaster beyond repair, dove into the audience and gave pieces of it to the crowd, after that, the band switched instruments, with Kurt on drums, Krist borrowed a guitar, and Dave on bass, this lasted until the end of “Rio” cover song.
- Dave and Krist started to play “Lounge Act”, but Kurt was looking for a left handed guitar. Kurt got an untuned one and Krist got upset because he took so long to tune up while the band keep playing the song. Krist hurled his bass at Kurt (or at the floor/speakers) and walked offstage. The band was under contract to play for 90 minutes, so the crew had to retrieve Krist to finish the set. When Krist returned, he picked up his tossed bass from the stage and didn't bother to retune it or swap it out.
- The band played “Territorial Pissings” completely out of time and tune.
- Two new songs were played, most likely “Heart-Shaped Box” and “Scentless Apprentice”, according to a review. Kurt even joked before the last song, saying that the drummer would earn 75% of the royalties/copyright. (Referring to Dave’s rhythmical creation of “Scentless Apprentice”).
- After “Scentless Apprentice”, Krist and Dave left the stage but Kurt stayed on stage breaking amplifiers, another guitar, stage lights and parts of the drums. Krist and Courtney had to get on the stage to remove Kurt, possibly saying, “The show is over. You can stop now”.
- The songs “Been A Son, “Aneurysm“ and “Stay Away” may have also been played, according to a review and attendees.
Press Reviews
- Review from a Brazilian magazine called "Top Rock", published in 1993.
- Reviews from Brazilian newspapers, published in 1993.
- Review from a Brazilian newspaper, published in 1993.
- Review from a newspaper called "Jornal Do Brasil", published in January 18, 1993.