For Your Weekend Listening Pleasure: Smells Like Nirvana at the Fair Park Coliseum in '93

By Robert Wilonsky Fri., Sep. 2 2011 at 6:42 PM

The Legendary Show happened two years and two months earlier at Trees. That one's been well-documented. There's video -- it never gets old. Then there's Jeff Liles's recap, which ran in the paper version of Unfair Park in '05, shortly before a bankruptcy judge closed the club's doors. What a mess. Wouldn't have missed it.

Two years later, at the Fair Park Coliseum, things were a little different. The venue was bigger; the sound too. The band was touring behind In Utero -- the third record, the last record. The Breeders, making a Last Splash, opened, which made sense. Shonen Knife was on the bill too, which didn't feel quite so ... logical. Whatever. Cannonball!

Don't remember much about that night, only that it was One of Those Nights when, four seconds of skronk and two puffs in, you realized: This is going to be special. Felt it a few times afterward -- like when Oasis played Deep Ellum Live in February '95. I've been looking for this show since forever. Came across it, accidentally, just this afternoon while looking for something else. So: Here it is. Sound quality's terrific, worthy of its A rating. All the hits, theirs and others (Leadbelly, the Vaselines, David Bowie's). Then, at the end, "Blew" into feedback into Ted Nugent's "Stranglehold," lights up, everybody out.

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just sayin'

This show was the first of a hard two part lesson that I learned. I had planned to go to this show but all my friends backed out. "Guess I'll catch them next time" I thought. Cobain painted his ceiling 6 months later. In '97 we were going to see Johnny Cash at the Majestic. Again, my friends backed out and I had the same thought about seeing him next time he came through town. He, of course, never toured again after '97 because his body could no longer handle it. So needless to say, after those two, I have absolutely no problem going to shows by myself if nobody else can or wants to go with me.

just sayin'

Guest - You are right about going for the music. As a kid, I just didnt like the idea of being alone in a roomfull of people during the often long times between sets. I got over that pretty easily once I actually gave it a try. And I havent missed a show that I really wanted to see since.

Duckduckgoose - Sorry. Instead of saying he painted his ceiling, I should have been more respectful and said that he took a horse dose of smack and blew his face off with a shotgun.