Somewhat puzzlingly signed to Thurston Moore’s label, Violent Soho are an Aussie quartet who want to pretend it’s 1992. Grunge it seems is back, however it’s not the Mudhoney/Nirvana/Tad sound that made the world fall in love with it, it’s the formulaic dreck that came after when every major label on the planet rushed to Seattle with open chequebooks to sign anything wearing a lumberjack shirt. It’s a bit Pixies, a bit Weezer, contains no hooks, and could be passed off as novelty, other than that it’s on Ecstatic Peace! – whether bad or good, Sonic Youth are at least always evolving and Violent Soho are retrograde in the extreme. If you bring nothing new to the party, then at least be damn good at what you do. If this had appeared in 1992 it’d have been passed off as bad grunge, so there’s certainly no cause to celebrate it now just because some time’s passed. And no props for that attention seeking title – if you’re in a rock band and Jesus stole your girlfriend – a dude whose musical friends are Cliff Richard, Stryper and the Jonas Brothers – then your girlfriend’s telling you that your band’s hopeless. As am I.
Oh my, how the jealousy intensifies of the thought of missing Nirvana’s headline slot on the Friday night at Reading ‘92. But, as a mere spotty adolescent at the time, the chances were derisorily slim that the immeasurable impact they had that night would have had a significant premise in my think tank at that tender age. However, due to the release of this climatic DVD/CD combo, a joyous wa hey, yes indeed, wa hey is bellowed out! We get to relive Cobain at his most spasmodically enchanting, fronting the primal instigators of grunge music of the early 90s. The campsite that year was rife with rumours that year that Cobain was AWOL, rumours citing anything from an overdose, to marriage difficulties or that he was compelled to shun the show due to his displeasure of the limelight. That aside, the set was filled with mind-blowing grunge and sloppy indie-rock that came accustomed to Nirvana’s shows. Filled with most of ‘Nevermind’ and ‘Bleach’ their set was that of a greatest hits ensemble. The inclusion of bootleg gems ‘D7’ and ‘Spank Thru’ whetted the appetite further. But, nothing resonates as profoundly as their classic cuts, such as ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit, ‘Lithium’, ‘School’ and set closer ‘Territorial Pissings’. This showing came a year after ‘Nevermind’ an album that reset the aesthetics and expectations of modern pop music. And delivered Reading a Nirvana arguably at their artistic peak. Nirvana you live on in our hearts!
Ranked #1 in Kerrang Magazine’s “100 Gigs That Shook The World” and voted as “Nirvana’s #1 Greatest Moment” by fans in an NME poll, Nirvana’s historic August 30, 1992 headlining appearance at the UK’s Reading Festival is one of the most bootlegged concerts in the annals of rock’n’roll. Now, fans will have an opportunity to own a pristine copy of that entire performance – with colour-corrected video from the original film with audio sourced from the original multi-track masters. Nirvana Live At Reading will be issued in a limited edition DVD+CD Deluxe Edition as well as DVD-only, CD-only configurations on November 2, 2009, followed by a 2 LP version on November 16, 2009.
