On March 1, 1994, "Nirvana" took the stage for the last time and played the last chord of their short career.
(Photo: YouTube)
The performance took place at "Terminal 1 Flughafen München" in Munich Germany in front of 3,050 people.
Many believe that the band's last performance was on November 18, 1993, a performance during which the album MTV Unplugged was recorded, but this is not the case. The band went on a short tour in the United States and then continued it in Europe, with the last performance on March 1, 1994 in Munich, amid the European tour.
As the European tour progressed Kurt Cobain seemed increasingly pale and sickly, and his voice could not withstand the intensity of the performances. The Doctors diagnosed him with bronchitis and sore throat and asked him to take a break, but he ignored them.
The acoustics of the place was terrible, it was not a place adapted for performances of this kind. Kurt Cobain did not know this until the show started as he did not show up for the sound check. Regardless of the poor acoustics, it was clear to everyone in the audience that Cobain's voice was betraying him.
The band was accompanied by guitarist Pat Smear who in this part of the tour also took on the role of background vocals from Dave Grohl as well as cellist Melora Creager.
The last song Kurt ever played in front of an audience was "Heart-Shaped Box". It just hurts to hear him struggle to get to the chorus's higher notes; later, he even gave up and performs it at a lower octave.
This historic moment was immortalized and recorded, and it is Kurt's last musical testimony in a public performance.
It was clear to everyone that Cobain could not continue to perform in this way and the rest of the scheduled tour in the round was canceled.
Kurt passed away a month later on April 5, 1994.
The setlist of that historic evening:
My Best Friend's Girl
Radio-Friendly Unit Shifter
Drain You
Breed
Serve the Servants
Come as You Are
Sliver
Dumb
In Bloom
About a Girl
Lithium
Pennyroyal Tea
School
Polly (Acoustic)
Very Ape
Lounge Act
Rape Me
Territorial Pissings
The Man Who Sold the World
All Apologies
On a Plain
Blew
Heart-Shaped Box