Review Summary: A DVD that sets out to both dispell myths and show the truth about a band that have split opinion since the very beginning. Deciphering truth from the mass media hype - Live, Tonight, Sold Out showcases both the good and the bad of Nirvana and provides an
I've been wanting to write a Nirvana review for a long time now and thought better of it due to the sheer volume of reviews for the other albums/compliations. but finally there is something that hasnt been reviewed ten million times! A quick preamble to this review, this review will not focus on the music on the dvd that much, as the previous reviewer has already covered most of the bases on that front.
In my time as a Nirvana fan I have collected a large number of live DVDs most of which aren't actually legal or of very good quality, so as soon as this came out it was a must have. A word of warning if you do own any bootlegged material your find that alot of these songs are available elsewhere and like me you may have seen alot of it already. However, if your new to Nirvana I strongly encourage you to purchase this as Nirvana are very much a better live band than they are a studio band. The sound and energy they produced onstage is rarely recreated by many bands and was a huge factor in propelling this band to international stardom - they were never the most gifted of all the Seattle bands and created perhaps the most simplistic songs of all their peers, but they are the band everyone thinks of when the word "Grunge" is tossed up.
For critics of the band this DVD is open to a large amount of criticism – some of their antics from the home videos are prettu goofy or lame, unless you get their quirky sense of humour. As well as this the inclusion of all the press hype surrounding the band could even be viewed as a bit of arrogance and attempting to extend their mythical legacy to a generation too young to remember the hype the first time round. However, I believe the intent behind the inclusions of both these aspects is contrast between what was said in the media about Nirvana i.e. “Saviours of Rock music” and “biggest band in the world” and the real Nirvana young men just looking to have fun. On to the music....
Trying to be as impartial as I can now - this DVD portrays the good, the bad, the ugly and the sublime. There is no covering up of Kurt's bleamishes here - performances such as Come as you are in which Kurt frankly gives up after a sloppy intro and failing to nail the first line ends up aimlessly screaming half assedly. Love Buzz, in which Kurt is pretty inaudible before attempting a stage dive and hitting a security guard with his guitar and getting floored for his efforts. Dive and Sliver also fail to showcase Kurt at his best, but this is a true reflection of the man - his legend is of a superstar lyricist that never set a foot wrong and was only undone by his unfortunate genius. This DVD firmly sets out to portray the real Cobain the one that sometimes couldnt cut it live, whether it was due to nerves, too much drugs (as is the case in Dive in particular, he couldnt look any less out of it) and inertia.
In saying all of this the DVD showcases some great performances, my personal favourite being Breed which is high impact, high energy and see's Cobain hit all the right notes - as well as a dirty little improvised solo whilst rolling around on the floor. I'm mainly focussing on the music of Cobain as Krist and Dave despite never being ground breaking musicians, always seem to produce solid performances which fuel the high energy that Cobain can either thrive or waste off. Other notable performances are Lithium, taken from the famous 1992 Reading Festival, which in England has entered folklore as one of the best headlining performances of the Festival's history. Negative Creep and Territorial Pissings are also more examples of the greatness Nirvana could produce live - Territorial Pissings is a particular delightful inclusion on a personal note as it occured on the Jonathon Ross show. In the 10+ years since that performance Jonathon Ross has gone on to become one of England's best talk show hosts earning in excess of $36million a year (alot for us Limeys) and considers himself to be quite hip - its great to see him make an ass of himself by introducing Lithium and being confronted with an angry Nirvana blasting out Territorial Pissings then trashing the set and leaving him almost lost for words (I do stress almost... he will never be completely lost for words!)
The DVD also touches upon other aspects of Nirvana such as their success, what their lyrics mean and of course a Nirvana DVD wouldnt be complete without Smells Like Teen Spirit. What I like about this however, is they only touch upon the song and down play its success as much as anything. Krist and Dave comment that they hate being only known for that one song, and the DVD montage does highlight the excess of hype the song received and the type of dimwitted fans that only go to Nirvana shows knowing of that one song. The actually footage of the song itself was taken from the world famous English chart show Top of the Pops. Its especially funny as Kurt was suffering from a sore throat and the producers suggested that he mime, in an act of defiance he went on to perform the song in the style of Frank Sinatra whilst the band pranced around to a backing track. If you havent seen this before its well worth the price alone just to see Dave's pretend drumming!
The extras include the highlights of a Nirvana show in Amsterdam, judging from the band line up and appearance of Kurt I’d guess it was 1993, songs included on this are: School, About a Girl, Been a Son, On a Plain, and Blew. This is a nice inclusion to the DVD as it is one of Nirvana’s better performances. Kurt’s guitaring is uncharacteristically tidy and his vocals well restrained there is no sloppy improvisation in this performance. The other extra feature worth of note is the option to pick a personalized playlist, which as far as I’m aware is a pretty innovative idea.
As well as the music and the covert/overt portrayal of the band there is alot of comical moments in which Krist comes across completely different to how I imagined him to be. Kurt also does quite well from the footage, as well as being shown as the man not the myth he is also shown as quite a funny, light hearted individual not the shy, serious and fragile guy that cracked under the pressure of fame. It is also interesting to see some comments from Dave Grohl about arena rock bands and how much they suck - skip a few years and we have the Foo Fighters...whats changed Dave?? This DVD puts forward many messages which are both subtle and quite glaringly obvious - it is trying to forge an image of the band and descrediting the commercial mass hype surrounding the band. It also attempts to widen the viewers awareness to Nirvana's music by tucking away the more commercially successful songs and showcasing some of the less heard of tracks. It is a great purchase for Nirvana fans such as myself to get an insight into the mechanics of the band, some of their thoughts about the industry and their music, as well as seeing them as people goofing around. For newcomers to Nirvana it should be quite insightful to how much more this band has to offer you than just Nevermind, and Teenage angst. For us of the older generation its provides a second chance to relive some of the memories of the band we may have forgotten and for the youngsters a chance to see what they were all about - playing live music. I'd highly recommend this for anyone with an open mind and curious about Nirvana.