Thursday Throwback: Nirvana’s First NYC Gig at the Pyramid [Video]
Saturday, September 24 marks the twentieth anniversary of Nevermind, Nirvana’s seminal second record. Herewith, a little flashback.
“Welcome to the New Music Seminar,” the MC belted. “There’s a few things about this band I want you to notice. Their hair rules.” Just a brief snippet of the introduction Nirvana received in July 1989, mere minutes before rocking the iconic Pyramid Club in the pre-gold rush East Village. July 18, to be precise. With Bleach already in the bag, it was Kurt (nay, Kurdt) and company’s first Gotham gig.
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A friend recently sent along a link to a spectacularly clear video of the 22-year-old performance. The show had long bounced around the bootleg circuit, but with the connectivity of the internets and YouTube, it’s now at the proverbial fingertips. One of the highlights, aside from the music, is seeing the band push some asshole fan off the stage during “Floyd the Barber.” Or the band trying to tackle Noveselic at the end.
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Nine months later, the band returned to New York City for another show at the Pyramid and to film scenes for their “In Bloom” video. This song would not see daylight until the release of Nevermind the next year. By the way, that other guitarist you see is Jason Everman, who received a credit on Bleach (he funded $606.17 to record the album) and was hired to tour with the band during the summer of 1989.
Setlist for the New Music Seminar show:
“School”
“Floyd the Barber”
“Love Buzz”
“Dive”
“Polly”
“Big Cheese”
“Scoff”
“About a Girl”
“Blew”
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