MTV News[/b]have up a new article looking back at Nirvana’s Live & Loud MTV show in Seattle in December 1993. Director Beth McCarthy-Miller recalls the show as having established Nirvana as a true four piece band, “I think the ‘Unplugged’ performance really helped them become a four-person band, instead of a three-person band, and ‘Live and Loud’ was the pinnacle of Pat [Smear] being part of the band. They were just incredible that night.” The show was originally supposed to be co-headlines by Pearl Jam. Below are quotes from the production crew behind the show recalling Eddie Vedder backing out last minute due to illness.
Beth McCarthy-Miller, director[/b]: “It was going to be this big hometown concert, with Pearl Jam, Nirvana, the Breeders and Cypress Hill on the bill, it was our big New Year’s Eve show. We were going to shoot it in New York City, but Pearl Jam wanted it in Seattle, so we found this awesome warehouse right on the Puget Sound, and we were all set until the day of the show, whenalmost[/i]everyone from Pearl Jam showed up, except for Eddie Vedder.”
Amy Finnerty, director of talent relations[/b]: “Actually, I had been traveling with the guys before we got to Seattle, and the night before that Seattle show was the night they played in Minneapolis, where Kurt and Kurt Loder smashed up the hotel room. And the next morning, I found Kurt and I told him, ‘We have to get out of here before the hotel calls the police!’ So we took his credit card and bought plane tickets to Seattle!’ And then Eddie ends up getting sick. I think he had the flu; he wasn’t trying to pull out of the show, he was genuinely too sick to perform.”
Salli Frattini, executive in charge of production[/b]: “When Eddie didn’t show up, there was this huge standoff that happened. I remember people were freaking out, because he backed out. But MTV was like, ‘Well, if he’s going to back out, let’s get Nirvana to step up.’ ”
McCarthy-Miller[/b]: “Again, it was a hometown crowd and people were freaking out, and in the middle of all the panic, Kurt offered to play a longer set, and it turned into what ended up being ‘Live and Loud,’ which was pretty much a discography of Nirvana. And he was just, I think, in a zone; he couldn’t have been more helpful and lovely to me; during sound check, he was just awesome, just asking ‘Beth do you need more?’ ”
Finnerty[/b]: “I remember that, when Eddie backed out, that’s when I got the phone calls from Courtney [Love] and Kurt. Courtney was freaking out, yelling ‘He’s not playing the show!’ so I had to go over to their house, to see what was happening. But, to be honest, there was no tension. To Kurt, it was no big deal, he was only concerned that the Breeders would still get to play and were taken care of. He didn’t want it to just be ‘The Nirvana Show.’ That’s how he was.”
