A teenage girl has found a rare artefact from Nirvana’s humble beginnings, posting never before seen photos from Nirvana’s first concert in 1987.
The photo’s surfaced on Thursday morning via a casual tweet by Maggie Poukkula, daughter of Seattle musician Tony Poukkula. Poukkula later explained that her father went to the same school as Cobain and they would occasionally jam together. “My dad went to high school with Kurt and played with him before he got big,” she retweeted.
Their Washington home, situated in Naussbaum Road Raymond, hosted Nirvana’s debut gig. The gig featured Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic performing early Nirvana songs “Downer” and “Hairspray Queen,” as well as a set of Led Zeppelin covers with Poukkula on guitar.
Whilst the house party attendees would have been completely unaware of the bands future success, the artefact illustrates the bands humble beginnings and adds to the grungy and down-to-earth image of a band that revolutionised the alternative music scene. It was where Cobain decided to continue with the band, going on to record their first demo in January the following year. See the pictures below.
Here is the incomplete setlist from the gig via Alternative Nation:
Aero Zeppelin
If You Must
Heartbreaker (jam)
How Many More Times (jam)
Mexican Seafood
Pen Cap Chew
Spank Thru
Hairspray Queen
Read our piece on Nirvana in Masters of Music Volume 16.
Listen to the full audio from the gig below.