NIGHT KURT COBAIN AS COURTNEY LOVE
ON Tuesday, December 10, 1991, pop veterans George Michael and Elton John were at number one with Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me. Nine places below, at number 10, a group of scruffy Seattle blokes called Nirvana were making their name with a tune called Smells Like Teen Spirit.
That night in Newport, South Wales, another group of dishevelled rockers were getting ready to play in a club called TJ’s. They were called Hole.
Their singer, a woman named Courtney Love, could scream like a banshee. She brought her boyfriend along.
In a moment of punk rock romance he is said to have proposed to her. The couple went on to become two of the most famous people on the planet.
He was Kurt Cobain. And that night has become the stuff of legend.
Simon Phillips, of promoters Cheap Sweaty Fun, helped organise the gig. Tickets were £4, or £4.50 on the door.
“There is quite a lot of shakily accurate stuff out there about that night,” the 63-year-old said.
“It was a Hole tour and Therapy? and Daisy Chainsaw were supporting. That night was completely the wrong way around. Daisy Chainsaw were amazing and should have headlined. Therapy? were really good as usual.
“Hole, as a musical outfit, I thought were all right but they left me mildly disappointed.”
Simon, a father of two and now a grandfather, “didn’t know what to expect from them” but “was not entirely bowled over”.
“The band turned up to soundcheck without Courtney Love, they came in late afternoon. But Courtney Love turned up very late with Kurt.
“They were both with a guy called Russell Warby who was Hole’s booking agent.
“That night they had a car crash on the Old Green Roundabout, just along from TJ’s.
“I remember Russell’s car being put on a low-loader because it was a writeoff. It was an old sky-blue Skoda and it was a right old mess.
“They came from London with Russell and the band came down separately.
“We had a phone call from Russell saying they would be late and then this crash happened. But as they were playing last we just carried on with the show.
“Shortly before they were due to come on stage Russell came in with Courtney, who I had never met, but anyone would have recognised her.”
Ten minutes later “this scruffy guy” sauntered in.
“He had his hair all over his face so I did not recognise him, which I would have done otherwise,” Simon said. “I told him, ‘It’s £4.50.’” There was little response. “So I said ‘Mate, it’s £4.50 tonight, you have to pay to get in.’ He pulled his fringe to one side and I was like ‘Oh, s***.’ And in he came.
“At the end, I shook Kurt’s hand and he said ‘Hey man, cool venue you’ve got here.’ There were no minders or any of that b*****ks. He was just milling about on his own.”
Simon is not convinced Kurt proposed to Courtney that night.
“I think we knew about it before the gig, I think it had been reported in the NME,” he said.
He heard later that TJ’s owner John Sicolo came up with a way to make extra cash from the night.
“He considered a scheme to cut up the bedsheets that they used into one inch squares and sell them off,” Simon said.
Andy Cairns and his band Therapy? were touring with Hole at the time.
Andy, now 51, had been looking forward to the night. They had played the venue before. “We really loved Daisy Chainsaw and Hole, some of my best memories of all time are from that tour,” the singer said.
He had never seen TJ’s as packed as it was that night. “It was a nightmare to get our stuff through the crowd, but it was all so good-natured there,” he said.
“I remember Johnny Sicolo being down the front because it looked like people might start spilling on the stage.
“The word went around that Kurt had turned up, none of us had ever met him.”
One of their crew started shouting at a bloke who was getting in the way as kit was being unloaded from the Therapy? van. It was Kurt.
Dad-of-two Andy said: “Michael the bass player asked him if he knew who he was shouting at. He said ‘No’ and Michael told him. He said he still didn’t know him.”
Andy recalled the reaction when people realised Kurt was in the building. “It wasn’t like, ‘Oh my God, that bloke from Nirvana is here!’” he said. “It was more like, ‘Oh right, that dude from Nirvana is here.’ That night was amazing.” He liked CourtneyCourt Love. “I thought she was great, super-inte super-intelligent, really interestin teresting to talk to. You never knew what you wou would get with her, yo you never knew w which Courtney w would turn up. “I can’t rememb ber there being any d drama that day, but th that might be becau cause we were so hap happy to be at TJ’s. “Af “Afterwards when we walkedwa by Cobain, I gave h him the muso nod that youyo give when you know s someone is in a band. “That’s as far as our conversation went. “I rememberrem at the end of the nightnigh when people realised whowh he was he was surround surrounded by people. “I heardhea shortly after he had pro proposed to her that night. I think about two weeks later, someone from Sim Simon Phillips’ crew had toldtol us that was the night.” Therapy?Thera bassist Michael M McKeegan has discoveredcovere video footage of
The band turned up to soundcheck without Courtney Love, they came in late afternoon. But Courtney Love turned up very late with Kurt