Superfans gather to hear resurfaced tape of Nirvana's now-famed Calgary concert

CBC

2 days ago

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Stacy Krisa was only a year old when Nirvana played Calgary's Westward Club 34 years ago, but on Thursday, she got to experience the next best thing: a listening party for a resurfaced bootleg tape from the now-famed show.
"This is the best night of my life," she said, overcome with emotion. "Like actually, I'm not even kidding. I might cry because I love Nirvana so much.
"Honestly, tonight felt like I was at an actual Nirvana concert."
The tape, played at Calgary's Ship & Anchor pub, was recently uncovered by Nirvana super fan Mike Jenkins, first reported by CBC News.
Jenkins found the tape at a Calgary collectors' show and learned it was a copy of the original. That tape was recorded on March 4, 1991, by Jason (Jay) Pay on his father's Dictaphone
"I kind of stood at the back of the room and just watched everyone enjoy it, and I really didn't expect everyone to enjoy a bootleg so much," Jenkins said.
He played a big part in organizing the event, and to accompany the tape, he compiled a video, which featured footage of past Nirvana concerts.
"Usually when something like this comes up, it just goes on the internet, and you know that's out there and people are sitting at home listening to it and [can] skip through it," Jenkins said.
"But tonight was really about taking the time, listening to the music and experiencing what happened back in Calgary in 1991. And I think that's really special with the way it was set up … the speakers blasting and everyone enjoying."
The concert's set list included: Love Buzz, Sliver, Dive, Floyd the Barber, Breed, Scoff, About a Girl, School, Swap Meet, Been a Son, Negative Creep, Blew, Lithium, Molly's Lips, Territorial Pissings, Spank Thru and possibly the last live performance of Mr. Moustache.
The quality of the tape, heard in public for the first time at Thursday night's listening party, was way better than expected, said Arif Ansari of the Calgary Cassette Preservation Society, one of the party's sponsors.
"It was a really, really great night. It was so fun to see the audience just going like bonkers over that."
True to the spirit of Pay's original recording, Ansari manoeuvred through the crowd with a Dictaphone in hand, capturing people singing along to the 1991 bootleg.
"Jay recorded the set on a Dictaphone like 34 years ago. So I'm like, well, what if I record 'Nirvana live at the Westward: Live at the Ship & Anchor' on a Dictaphone?"
On a plain memory lane
Mike Bell, author of the substack Sound Up YYC and former music reviewer for the Calgary Herald and Calgary Sun, was at the now-famed concert.
Nirvana performed at the Beltline venue mere months before releasing one of the best-selling albums of all-time, Nevermind.
Though the show has now reached legend-status for many in Calgary, Bell said he didn't actually remember it as "anything spectacular," adding "it was just another rock show."
I went to hundreds of [shows] at that time, be it at the Westward Club, be it at the Republic, the Night Gallery, all of those. And, you never know, right? You never know what's going to be big," Bell said.
But then you see Nirvana and you go, 'Wow, you know what? I was pretty lucky to see that.'"
In keeping with the promise that Pay had made to Kurt Cobain to never sell the tape, Jenkins and the organizers kept the event free for all to enjoy.
The event was also a fundraiser for the Distress Centre Calgary and BAM! Camp Calgary.
Come as you are
Along with the folks who lived through Nirvana's prime, a younger generation of die-hard Nirvana fans also got to experience the show at Thursday's listening party.
Ashton Terry wasn't even born yet when the Seattle band took the Westward Club stage, but he said he's been a fan since he was five, hearing Nirvana's songs through his father.
He described the opportunity to hear the tape of them playing in Calgary as "just beautiful."
"Of course, there's the rock aspect to it where you just want to, like, dance, you want to bob your head and all that," he said, after the party.
"But if you think about it, like, you're seeing Kurt Cobain in his prime of passion, you know, before the fame got to him, before all the tours, all the money got to him. It was before he blew up. So you're seeing his true passion, the reason why he made the music he did."
While Thursday's event was for folks over 21, the Ship & Anchor is hosting another listening party for the tape on Saturday, May 31, for all ages at 5:30 p.m.