Last Friday marked the 20th anniversary of In Utero, the final full-length album from Nirvana. For its own commemoration of the classic record, MTV/VH1 are releasing a series of rare live performance videos of the grunge legends’ Live & Loud concert in the band’s home base of Seattle from December 1993 that aired on MTV on New Year’s Eve that month.
MTV/VH1 plan to release a total of four different sets from the performance, beginning today (Sept. 18) with a rendition of “Heart-Shaped Box,” the lead single from In Utero.
Amid a teeming sea of concertgoers that includes the occasional crowd surfer, Nirvana sounds as on-point as the band ever did, assisted by second guitarist Pat Smear filling out the song’s crunching guitar on the chorus and backing vocals.
The release of the “Heart-Shaped Box” video precedes Thursday’s release of a video for “Rape Me,” before a dual set on Monday (Sept. 23) of rehearsal performances of “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” and “Very Ape,” which includes frontman Kurt Cobain on drums.
The footage is included in the Nirvana: Live & Loud DVD, which is scheduled for a Sept. 24 release. The concert itself occurred Dec. 13, 1993, at Seattle’s Pier 48, not even a month after the band’s storied MTV Unplugged taping.
-Kevin Rutherford, Radio.com