On this day in 1992, Nirvana perform one of the most iconic performances of their career when they headline England’s Reading Festival.
Back in the middle of 1992, Nirvana had embarked upon a European tour, their second bout of touring since the release of their breakthrough album Nevermind in September of 1991. Arguably the biggest date on this tour was to be the group’s headlining performance at England’s Reading Festival, however, this performance almost didn’t happen.
At the time, Kurt Cobain was suffering through his continuing addiction to heroin, and rumours about the band’s future – and their headlining spot – began to circulate. As we now know, the group eventually did take to the stage for what would be not only their last concert in the UK, but also one of the most memorable gigs in the entire history of the band.
On August 30th, 1992, the band finally appeared at Reading, with Kurt Cobain being wheeled onstage by pushed by music journalist Everett True as he wore a medical gown to parody fears for his health.
As Cobain rose out of his chair, he pulled himself up by the microphone stand before pretending to faint. Moments later, Nirvana jumped into a performance of ‘Breed’, kicking off one of the most memorable concerts of all time.
“I remember showing up to Reading ’92 and there being so many rumours that we weren’t going to play, that we had cancelled,” Dave Grohl recalled earlier this year. “I walked backstage and some of my best friends in bands that were opening would see me and say, ‘What are you doing here?’ And I’d go, ‘We’re fucking headlining!’ And they’d be like, ‘You’re actually going to play?!’ I didn’t realise there was any question that we were going to play.”
“I knew within myself I was questioning if we could play, but I knew we were going to try.”
“The show was a really reassuring, genuinely magical moment of everything coming together at the right time,” he continued. “I think we had practised once, the day before, and I just didn’t know if we could pull it off. That happened a bunch of times in Nirvana, where you’d think, ‘God, this is going to be a fucking disaster,’ and then it would turn out to be something beautiful.”
“So yeah, it went great, but it’s sad that that’s the last time we ever played England, because it could have been better. We just didn’t play England enough, I don’t think.”
“The memory is somewhat triumphant but melancholy, because we never came back.”
Check out Nirvana performing ‘Breed’ at Reading 1992:
