Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Nirvana UK
NIRVANA UK, are a three piece international touring Nirvana tribute band from Birmingham in the U. K.
“We are 3 huge Nirvana fans who have dedicated our efforts into creating the greatest Nirvana tribute band on the planet. Why???…. for people who may not have had the opportunity to see the real thing. In an attempt to allow people to experience the sheer power and energy that a Nirvana show would of produced.”
Nirvana UK – The Band
Jez (Kurt)on lead guitar and vocals
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Dan (Kirst) on Bass guitar
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Jon (Dave) on Drums and vocals
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
“You will struggle to find another tribute band that goes to the lengths we do to replicate the live Nirvana experience in a more authentic way. ALL the equipment we use is period correct from the 1990s. The guitars, basses, pre amps, amps, speaker cabs, effects boxes and even the drums are all the same as the original band would of used live. Krist Novoselic has acknowledged our efforts with numerous re tweets about our gear on his personal Twitter account. We even go as far as wearing the same clothes”
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Nirvana UK – The Set…
Nirvana UK’s set, I think, included pretty much the whole spectrum of the original Nirvana’s live and studio releases. Tonight in a pretty full Concorde 2 they kicked things off with Radio Friendly. Now tonight in Brighton, and yes dear reader it had stopped raining, the town was pretty much a ghost town apart from outside and inside Concorde 2! The crowd had started queuing before the doors open. Drain You was up next. I have to say the crowd, well they just went for it! A huge mosh pit opened up and pretty lively it was in there – no doubt some cuts and bruises to show off in the morning. The last time I saw a crowd erupt and let off steam was when I was with While She Sleeps. It wasn’t long before bodies were surfing across the crowd.
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Breed was up and followed with Serve The Servants. My God! These guys know what they are doing. The sound was just awesome the guitars and bass were ablaze tonight, the guys beat the hell out of their instruments for over 90 minutes. The guy at the back, mainly lost in smoke, powered at us for the set giving a real energetic driving performance was Jon on drums. The power from his kit glued the whole thing together. This was a turning into a monster of a set.
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
These guys were playing it raw, loud and totally on point. If you turned around and just listened you would of thought you were listening to the original band. I never saw Nirvana live and didn’t really get into much of what they did. Nirvana UK have converted me!
Rape Me, Sliver, Pennyroyal Tea, School and Dumb came at us hard and fast in turn fuelling the massive mosh pit. The sound was extraordinary. It was loud, real loud but the sound guys had everything sounding crystal clear. All the vocals could be clearly heard and each instrument from the bass thunder from Dan to the thrashing and at times subtle guitar play from Jez.
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Smells Like…
The set progressed and the familiar riff played by Jez, the drums kicked in and the bass lines filled the auditorium, it heralded Smells Like Teen Spirit. The crowd already hot and sweaty from the previous songs kicked it up a notch. Bodies everywhere and folk surfed to the front only to be safely removed by the security guys. One guy was helped to surf to the back! Hilarious, as it was clearly not the way he wanted to go!
Next the guitars started with the opening chords to Bowies, The Man Who Sold The World. This I had seen on the unplugged Nirvana session, Nirvana UK rocked it up a bit, the crowd calmed from the frenzy and joined in with every single word. Very Ape and About A Girl came up next much to the delight of the crowd.
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
In Bloom, Sappy, and the monster that is Lithium were delivered to the crowd who were just soaking up everything these guys threw at them. You Know You Are Right was up and perfectly fired at us. Now Nirvana was an American rock band formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in 1987, with drummer Dave Grohl joining the band in 1990. Though their brief run ended following the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, Nirvana has come to be regarded as one of the most influential and important rock bands of the modern era. Nirvana UK delivered a set of music that proved just that and the these guys can do some rock out justice to all the material they played for us tonight.
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
The gig was almost over and time for just one more classic, Territorial Pissings. And that was it. All over. It was easy to see how these guys have sold out all they shows they have played in Brighton. A stunning performance. Ok, I know you are not going to see Nirvana live but if you like Nirvana, or just want to re live your youth, this was/is the band to see. It was the hottest ticket in town tonight.
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Now, dear reader, as Jez had a new Fender Mustang, they did not play out with the Nirvana styled anarchy and abuse which could include the smashing up of equipment at the end of the show.
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
Well played Nirvana UK, that was pretty awesome! I along with the packed in crowd fuelled with adrenaline had an absolute blast! I know there is plenty of recorded or live Nirvana material already available, but if you fancy seeing how they played live, you could do far worse than check these guys out. They have been playing together for over 6 years and I imagine there is no one else out there that can touch them for looks, sounds, and atmosphere.
Nirvana UK – photo by Ian Bourn for Scene Sussex
These guys give you some of the most 100% dedicated, committed, and all round top clear performances of Nirvana’s songs as you’re likely to get close to.
A huge thank you to the staff at Concorde 2 for looking after us all tonight. The security guys were first class in keeping an eye out and helping the crowd surfers. The team work hard to look after us either at the bar, or in the concert venue. Also congrats to the sound techs for a top notch gig.
Nirvana UK are on Facebook – my advice is to go catch these guys live if they play near you.
Black Rabbit Productions hosted the evening. They work hard promoting live music on the south coast. They are a promotion company with years of experience putting on music shows. Tonight was superb. They have some great gigs lined up for 2020! You can find Black Rabbit Productions on the WWW
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