Looking back at Nirvana’s raucous Portsmouth show
It may have been a one-timeonly deal, but Nirvana’s performance in Portsmouth continues to hold a special place in the memories of fans lucky enough to have witnessed it.
Comprised of Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and original drummer Chad Channing, the American grunge trio first arrived in the city during their Bleach album tour way back in October 1989, when they played a ferocious set at the Ents Hall at Portsmouth Polytechnic (now the University of Portsmouth) with fellow Sub Pop outfit Tad and The Cataran.
With only their first album under their belt, Nirvana were relatively unknown at the time.
Their 14-song set in Pompey was comprised mostly of tunes from their aforementioned debut. The ticket price for the show was just £3.50. You’d struggle to buy a half pint of lager for that these days.
While frontman Cobain was joined by bassist Novoselic, Dave Grohl, who went on to find further fame with Foo Fighters, was yet to take up the drums for the Seattle band. Channing manned the kit during this period.
Andy Cornish, now bassist in Portsmouth’s garage-rockers The Glorias recalls the gig: "I’d heard (early singles) Love Buzz and Negative Creep, but I got tickets to see Tad, who I saw many times. It was before Grohl joined, but Nirvana were amazing – a real sense of menace. I saw many of those Sub Pop/ grunge bands down the poly – Mudhoney, Soundgarden, The Fluid, Dinosaur Jr. They were exciting times.”
Bootleg audio of the Portsmouth Poly show is out there on the internet for those who wish to hear it for themselves.
Responding to an audio clip of the Portsmouth show on YouTube, @ davidoliver3108 recalled: “I worked the monitors at this gig, was a member of the Ents Committee at the poly and if you joined you could try monitors, front of house, DJing etc.
“I still have my stage pass, I didn’t appreciate how good they were at the time so it’s great to be able to listen to this. Some of the long gaps between songs are probably me f ****** g around trying to get the monitors right for KC, which I totally failed at doing!”
In the early days of their career, Nirvana toured relentlessly, making regular forays across the pond to play intimate venues in cities and towns up and down the UK.
The Portsmouth concert represents a crucial chapter in Nirvana’s journey, marking a period of growth and evolution for the band as they honed their distinctive sound.