Nirvana – Live At Reading

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Available officially for the first time this is the complete performance from the 1992 Reading Festival, widly considered one of Nirvana’s all-time greatest performances, with beautifully restored video and remastered audio on both CD and DVD, with an LP edition to follow. The video footage has been digitally re-coloured to correct flaws or fading in the original tapes while the audio has been remastered from the original multi-track tapes, and the result is the most pristine version of this concert ever to surface, putting to shame the numerous bootleg copies, including the one shamefully released in 2007 by criminal but somehow-unpunished “label” Quantum Leap, who special in recording concerts from TV broadcasts and releasing them on DVD. The famous setlist includes all but one track (Something In The Way) from their seminal third album Nevermind, two obsure covers (D-7 by The Wipers and The Money Will Roll Right In by Fang, a selection of older tracks from Bleach, and several songs which wouldn’t appear until two years later on In Utero. Everything sounds as clean, and as raw, as Nirvana ever did thanks to the perfect remastering job, and the picture quality is at times so good it could have been filmed this year. This won’t change anyone’s mind about Nirvana, those that hated them before still will, but it’s not supposed to. This is a long overdue gift to the fans who have had to make do with overpriced bootlegs for 17 years, and for that Universal should be thanked.

Written by Andy Lye
More: Live DVDs, Non-metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Rock, Nirvana