30 years ago today, Nirvana played their final show

The last Nirvana tour was miserable. Kurt Cobain wasn’t well. His painful stomach issues continued and he was self-medicating, often with heroin. One show in Paris had already been canceled. But the crew soldiered on.

By the time the band go to Italy in late February, Kurt has having problems with his voice. Bronchitis led to laryngitis. He was depressed and nothing could shake the grey clouds over his head. A show in Ljubljana, Slovenia, was rough. Maybe things would be better in Munich.

The March 1, 1994, show was staged in front of about 3,000 at a venue called Terminal 1, a disused airplane hanger. It was supposed to be the first of two gigs in the city before seven more dates across Europe. Once that was over, the band would get a few months’ break before headlining 43 Lollapalooza dates.

The Munich show was a struggle. Kurt was weak and had a hard time hitting the high notes. But the band powered through. This was the first song of the night.

Six songs in during “Come as You Are,” there was a power failure. The first time through had to be aborted and the group had to start again.

Nirvana played 18 songs in their main set followed by a five-song encore. There was no performance of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” This is how the night ended.

At the very end of the night, Krist Novoselic addressed the crowd. “We’re on our way out. Grunge is dead. Nirvana’s over.”

How right he was. The rest of the European tour was canceled. On March 4, Kurt attempted suicide in a Rome hotel room. In a little more than month, Kurt was dead.

Here’s the full setlist from the night:

1. My Best Friend’s Girl (The Cars cover) (“Moving in Stereo” by The Cars was sung by Krist and Kurt as an outro)
2. Radio Friendly Unit Shifter
3. Drain You
4. Breed
5. Serve the Servants
6. Come as You Are (aborted due to power failure and played again)
7. Sliver
8. Dumb
9. In Bloom
10. About A Girl
11. Lithium
12. Pennyroyal Tea
13. School
14. Polly (Acoustic)
15. Very Ape
16. Lounge Act
17. Rape Me
18. Territorial Pissings

Encore:

1. The Man Who Sold the World (David Bowie cover)
2. All Apologies
3. On a Plain
4. Blew
5. Heart-Shaped Box

Here’s a bootleg recording of the entire final show.