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Live at the Paramount (2011)

Where the lyrics of Live at the Paramount take you, and where it was really made.

The concert was filmed entirely on 16 mm film, the only Nirvana show ever shot that way, and that film is the reason it could be released in high definition on Blu-ray.

Key places

Paramount Theatre, Seattle, 31 October 1991 (1991)

Recording site Paramount Theatre — The album's footage comes from the band's live performance at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle on October 31, 1991. The map point marks the theatre area, not an exact building position. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Live at the Paramount: live video and album by American rock band Nirvana
• Released in 2011 as part of the 20th anniversary of the album Nevermind
• Shows the band's live performance at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington, on October 31, 1991
• Released on DVD and Blu-ray; a DVD with a CD audio version is included in the limited edition Nevermind Super Deluxe box set
• The concert was first released on vinyl in April 2019

Background

• The Paramount show was the third of three Pacific Northwest shows with the Seattle band Mudhoney
• It was the final show of the North American leg of the Nevermind tour before the band left for Europe
• The shows were booked two months earlier with Mudhoney as headliners
• Nevermind's surprising success led to Nirvana being moved to the headlining spot
• The Seattle show moved from the smaller Moore Theatre to the Paramount because of ticket demand
• Bikini Kill was also on the bill
• About 2,800 people attended, the largest audience the band played to during the first part of the Nevermind tour

Recording

• The footage was shot on 16 mm film, a higher quality recording than video tape
• The show was recorded five weeks after Nevermind was released
• A video crew hired by co-manager John Silva for $250,000 filmed the performance
• The Blu-ray features uncompressed 48 kHz/24-bit sound
• Several songs from the soundboard recording, mixed by Andy Wallace, were officially released before the album
• The setlist mixed material from Nevermind and the 1989 debut album Bleach

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Nirvana is an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987.
• Founded by Kurt Cobain (vocals, guitar) and Krist Novoselic (bass).
• Went through several drummers, including Chad Channing, before Dave Grohl joined in 1990.

Members

• Kurt Cobain: lead vocals and guitar, principal songwriter.
• Krist Novoselic: bass.
• Dave Grohl: drums, joined in 1990.

Career

• Part of the Seattle grunge scene; debut album Bleach released on Sub Pop in 1989.
• Signed to DGC Records in 1990; Nevermind (1991) became a cultural phenomenon, credited with ending hair metal's popularity.
• In Utero (1993) topped the US and UK album charts.
• Cobain died in April 1994; the band disbanded that year.
• MTV Unplugged in New York (1994) won a Grammy for Best Alternative Music Performance at the 1996 Grammys.
• One of the best-selling music artists of all time; inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Jayson Greene of Pitchfork wrote that the joy of the album is hearing the charge of a great band newly famous, still reeling and flooded with nervy adrenaline
• Mark Deming of AllMusic compared the release to the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, saying it captured the artists just before success became a burden
• Nick Ruskell of Kerrang! reviewed the 2019 vinyl release, writing that the concert does not even sound like the best show Nirvana ever played, but that the band was captured without hype, in the moment

Reappraisal

• The Blu-ray version was widely criticized for audio sync problems
• Amazon posted a statement from Universal that denied the problem exists
• The review site Blu-ray.com gave the audio a score of 0/5 because of the sync issues
• Later prints of the Blu-ray disc (2012 and later) fixed the sync issues

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Tickets for the show cost $10, and the Seattle show was moved to the larger Paramount because of demand
• Cobain invited two Olympia, Washington friends, Ian Dickson and Nikki McClure, to dance onstage; their shirts read Girl and Boy
• Everett True called the Paramount show the end of an era that showed Nirvana was now big news
• The hidden tracks Territorial Pissings and Breed, from a March 8, 1991 show at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, appear on the video releases
• On December 12, 2021, the film was screened at the Paramount Theatre by Seattle Theatre Group, with opening music by Them and the Black Tones

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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