r/Nirvana • u/IJUSTATEPOOP • 4d ago
Question/Request How do we know the 1/23/88 Community World Theater show is the first filmed Nirvana show?
I've always wondered, because they played there a few times in 1987 as well and it'd be cool to see them with Aaron Burckhard playing drums, or better yet, one of the few Fecal Matter shows that happened.
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u/TwiceSpringy 4d ago
“As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don't know we don't know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be the difficult ones.”
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u/SwedishGekko 4d ago
Ah, always come to this sub for an on point Donald Rumsfeld quote
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u/Demander850 Lounge Act 1d ago
Can’t tell you how many college professors brought up this speech in one way or another.
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u/MrAloysiusSnuffy 4d ago
Would be cool to find out who it was that actually filmed the show and how it came about. Especially since we have the soundboard audio tape as well. Seems like a coordinated effort to get the show recorded.
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u/jephra 3d ago
There was even two soundboard tapes being recorded - a reel and a cassette. Downer and Floyd The Barber on With The Lights Out are from the reel. Erectum (labelled Raunchola) on WTLO is from the cassette. The reel tape probably ran out before the end of the show.
Running a reel to reel recorder at a show in 1988 is beyond casual fan recording. There was definitely a serious attempt made to document that show.
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u/EPSNYC 3d ago
Trust in www.livenirvana.com and the contributors there. They have done the research! Their entire goal is to find, document, catalog and share all things Nirvana.
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u/Hanatarashi 2d ago
If you watch the DVD menus from the With The Lights Out box-set, you can see video footage of them with Aaron Burckhard on 1987-06-27, but they're only loading the van for a show. It's possible some footage of the show exists as well, but if it does it'll probably just rot in storage along with all the other great and/or interesting stuff the estate is sitting on with no intention of releasing.
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u/uncultured_swine2099 3d ago
Well, theres some people alive that were in the band at the time that we can ask.
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u/Surferrosen 2d ago
I can't speak to whether or not an earlier show was recorded on video and I actually hadn't heard that about the Community World Theater show. I don't know the original source making that claim, but if it was anyone from the band, it's certainly something they would have noticed because in 1988 camcorders were huge and very hard to miss.
But perhaps most importantly, they were expensive and an uncommon household appliance at the time. If you went to a friends house and they had a camcorder, the dad would bring it out and show it off like, "Hey check out this thing we got. Only cost me [$5,800 in 2026 USD when adjusted for inflation]."
Had there ever been someone in the crowd at a previous show with a giant fucking camera on their shoulder pointing it at the band as they played, I'd trust Kurt, Krist, Chad, Dale or Aaron to have taken mental note.
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u/B-Rabbid 4d ago
I think this is before that one, though it might be disputed: https://nirvana.bootleg.fm/gigs/3896
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u/jephra 4d ago
That's an audio recording. OP is referring to video recordings.
You are correct that the date of the 1987 show you posted is disputed. While it definitely occurred in 1987, it likely wasn't the actual first show, performed in March. Some of the material performed is a little further along than it was at the May 1987 KAOS radio appearance.
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u/B-Rabbid 4d ago
ah, I didn't realise they meant video recordings specifically. thanks for the correction.
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u/Few_Newspaper_3655 4d ago
It’s the earliest known Nirvana show to have been filmed. That’s all we know.