Latest news with #MartinD-18E
Time Out
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Kurt Cobain's $6 million guitar is going on display in London for the first time
A piece of bona fide rock history is coming to London next month. Kurt Cobain's acoustic guitar – which is the most expensive guitar ever sold and was apparently the last guitar he ever played – is going on display in the capital. The guitar will be part of an exhibition titled 'Kurt Cobain Unplugged' at the museum of the Royal College of Music (RCM – which was recently crowned the world's best place to study music), and it'll feature alongside Cobain's mothy old cardigan, which he wore for his legendary MTV Unplugged performance. The exhibition will mark a few 'firsts'. It'll be the first time the guitar has gone on display in Europe, and it'll be the first time that it's gone on show alongside Cobain's battered olive-green mohair cardigan. Curated by American rock journalist Alan di Perna and the RCM's Gabriele Rossi Rognoni, the exhibition will also feature Nirvana memorabilia, including gig posters and collectible vinyl. Kurt Cobain's acoustic guitar is a Martin D-18E which he modified to be played left-handed. According to Courtney Love, it was the last guitar Kurt Cobain ever played. After being passed down to Kurt's daughter Frances Bean Cobain then given to her ex-husband in a divorce settlement, in 2020 it went up for auction and was bought by Australian businessman Peter Freedman for a whopping $6 million (£4.54 million). Freedman has loaned it to the RCM for this exhibition, which will open on June 3. Tickets are on sale now for £5, and you can buy them here.
Euronews
01-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Euronews
Kurt Cobain's iconic guitar to feature at London exhibition this summer
ADVERTISEMENT The iconic guitar Kurt Cobain used in Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance is set to feature in an upcoming London exhibition titled 'Kurt Cobain Unplugged'. The famous acoustic set was recorded in November 1993, five months before Cobain's death . It was released as an album in 1994 and earned Nirvana their only Grammy. Now, the Martin D-18E that the late musician played during legendary performance will be available to view as part of a landmark exhibition that delves into the legacy of the gig. It marks the first time the rare instrument, which became the most expensive guitar sold at auction in 2020, has been displayed in the UK. 'When I purchased this guitar, my intention was to have it begin a worldwide tour of exhibitions, to support performing artists,' shares Australian entrepreneur Peter Freedman AM, who bought the instrument for over $6 million (approx. €5.5m) in 2020. 'I am delighted that this intent will be premiered at the Royal College of Music, London, with the first exhibition of its kind and will support talented musicians worldwide.' The exhibition is curated by rock journalist Alan di Perna and curator Gabriele Rossi Rognoni and will run at the Royal College of Music Museum in London. 'I'm delighted to be a part of the Royal College of Music Museum's first-ever rock music exhibition,' shares Alan di Perna. 'MTV's Nirvana Unplugged in New York was a landmark event – a stand-out performance by a group that changed the course of rock history in the 1990s.' In our Album Anniversaries series - as the album turned 30 last year - we said: "30 years after its release, it stands alongside Duke Ellington's 'Ellington at Newport', Aretha Franklin's 'Aretha Live at Fillmore West', Bill Withers' 'Live at Carnegie Hall', Keith Jarrett's 'The Köln Concert' and Talking Heads' 'Stop Making Sense' as one of the greatest live albums ever recorded." Kurt Cobain Unplugged Royal College of Music Museum Also featuring in the exhibition – which opens on 3 June and lasts until 18 November 2025 – is the olive-green mohair cardigan Cobain wore during the set, making this the first time ever these two items will be displayed together. The famous cardigan was sold at auction for $334,000 (approx. €308,000) in 2019. There will also be a curated collection of Nirvana memorabilia , including original gig posters, collectible vinyl records, and pieces from Cobain's own musical equipment collection. Last year, Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture faced criticism for a Nirvana exhibition that says Kurt Cobain 'un-alived himself.' The term 'un-alived' originated on TikTok, in order to circumvent censorship from algorithms, which ban users for words like 'suicide.' However, that language manifested IRL in the exhibit, stating that Cobain did not die by suicide on 4 April 1994 at the age of 27 but 'un-alived himself at 27.' Many drew comparisons to George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984" - in which everyone talks in 'Newspeak'. Tickets for 'Kurt Cobain Unplugged' in London go on sale on 30 April. The exhibition takes place from 3 June until 18 November 2025.
The Guardian
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Kurt Cobain's guitar from Nirvana's MTV Unplugged show to go on display in UK
The world's most expensive guitar, which Kurt Cobain played in one of Nirvana's most acclaimed performances – the MTV Unplugged in New York show – is to be displayed in the UK for the first time. The Royal College of Music in London has been loaned the Martin D-18E by its owner, Peter Freedman (the chair of Røde microphones), who bought the guitar for $6m (£4.8m) in 2020, making it the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction. The Martin D-18E took on mythical status after Cobain used it during Nirvana's November 1993 MTV Unplugged appearance – a controversial move due to the fact it was supposed to be an acoustic performance and the guitar is an electro-acoustic. The music journalist and curator Alan di Perna, who worked on the exhibition, said that the guitar, which was one of only 301 copies made in 1959, was an 'outcast' just like its owner. 'It's a very rare instrument and an unsuccessful model,' said Di Perna. 'The whole world was going crazy for electric guitars in 1959 and this was Martin's attempt at making an acoustic guitar electric, and it didn't really work.' 'It's one of a kind: the guitar was modified for Cobain's left-hand playing technique, an extra pickup was added by his guitar tech … In a way it's kind of an outcast like Kurt himself. It's a suitable guitar for him in a lot of ways.' Cobain played the guitar for many of the songs during the MTV performance, which – despite pressure from the broadcaster on the band to play their greatest hits – featured several covers, including David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World, Lead Belly's version of the traditional Where Did You Sleep Last Night? and three songs by the relatively unknown band the Meat Puppets, who also played during the performance. The recording took on greater significance because Cobain killed himself five months later at home in Seattle, and after his death MTV played the Unplugged show regularly. 'The show was on heavy rotation after his death and this is before the internet, so if you wanted to grieve you would have put on this performance. It was burned into the collective consciousness of rock music,' said Di Perna. 'I put it up there with the Beatles on the roof of Apple Records in London. Just imagine if John Lennon died five months after that performance? How powerful would that be? That's what we have with Nirvana Unplugged.' Cobain was very hands-on, and ensured his aesthetic ideas were used, influencing the way the performance was presented. 'He took control of the visual aspects of the productions,' said Di Perna. 'He wanted flowers, he wanted candles; the producer of the show asked him if he wanted it to be like a funeral and he said 'yes'.' The exhibition, which opens on 3 June, also features the green cardigan Cobain wore during the MTV Unplugged gig, which sold for $334,000 (£260,388) at auction in 2019, making it the most expensive button-up to go under the hammer. Sign up to Sleeve Notes Get music news, bold reviews and unexpected extras. Every genre, every era, every week after newsletter promotion Cobain's former partner, Courtney Love, gave the cardigan, described by the Guardian' fashion and lifestyle editor Morwenna Ferrier as 'a moth-eaten, oversized acrylic, mohair and Lycra mix', to the couple's former nanny as a gift, and also told Billboard magazine that the Martin D-18E was the last guitar Cobain ever played. 'The cardigan was indicative of Kurt's preference for thrift-shop fare, which comes from the punk aesthetic and finding value in what society has cast off,' Di Perna said. 'In the early days of the band they didn't have much money but the fact he continued to wear it after the band became famous is a statement in its own right. He's saying: 'This is where I come from, it's an alternative scene and this is the way I dress.'' Cobain's cardigans have inspired clothing lines, such as the 'Kurtigan' from the Japanese brand Manastash.
