Bradley, Kurt & Shannon

this seems timely for our 90s thread….


So in a heated conversation last night I met a man who denied it was possible for someone to have witnessed Kurt Cobain, Shannon Hoon and Bradley Nowell on stage before their respective deaths.

I figured if anyone else had done so, it would be people on here…so who has…

disclaimer: technically I cheat because while Blind Melon opened for Neil Young in 1993, I didnt get to the show until after they had played and only saw Shannon onstage when he came on for the encore and did some singing with Neil.

I have. And maybe on one more occasions. I'll try gather the dates.

Nirvana twice (90 and 91 Palace and Palladium).

Blind Melon once (93 opener for Neil Young with
STP at the LA Coliseum - did a killer version of Traffic's Dear Mr. Fantasy)

Sublime (dozens of times in clubs in Long Beach and with No Doubt through out LA in the early 90's)

ohhh, snap, the dates

blind melon was 93 opening for Neil Young

Nirvana was like 3 weeks later.

sublime was twice at the Capital Ballroom I believe perhaps both times in 1996?

Originally posted by Erinaceous Sonickus:
So in a heated conversation last night I met a man who denied it was possible for someone to have witnessed Kurt Cobain, Shannon Hoon and Bradley Nowell on stage before their respective deaths.

how did he justify this?

it'd be more impressive if someone saw them AFTER their deaths. yeah?

Originally posted by HoyaSaxa03:

Originally posted by Erinaceous Sonickus:
So in a heated conversation last night I met a man who denied it was possible for someone to have witnessed Kurt Cobain, Shannon Hoon and Bradley Nowell on stage before their respective deaths.

how did he justify this?

well, I suppose that all three bands only toured for about 2-3 years a piece, and maybe came through to each town once or twice, with the exception of SoCal and NYC.

add that to the fact that most of their fans were younger and werent going to 3 shows a week….we asked about 50 people at the show last night, all in their late 20s, early 30s and not one person had seen ANY of the three.

I asked a group of friends this morning and i got one person who'd seen 2 but thats it.

I miss Nirvana and Blind Melon.

It's too bad that "No Rain" song was so popular. It was their worst one.

Sadly, I did not get to see either, as they both passed before I really started going to shows.

In the early days, Nirvana used to play a lot of benefit shows, and I saw them then, but didn't count it because it was usually a three song set and you were done.

You would have to be over 30 (I think) because a lot of the early Nirvana shows were 18 and over. Sublime I would have said the same thing, except they did a warped tour gig that was all ages.

Blind Melon was just luck. I wanted to see Neil Young and STP, and they happened to be the third band on the ticket. I did get a beer thrown at me by a Neil Young fan for enjoying an opener - only time that's ever happened to me.

tru, Nirvana's Nevermind tour was mostly 18 and up but once they put out In Utero they were playing arenas and college gyms so thats where I saw them

Sublime was probably 18 and up so yeah, anyone under 28 y/o may not have seen them without a fake ID and let me tell you about how hard it was to get into the Capital Ballroom with a fake Id….not very.

Saw Blind Melon with Shannon at Woodstock 94.

I don't see how this person thinks no one could have seen them? These weren't bands that no one knew at the time of their deaths…


MindCage
Mindless Faith
Deep6 Productions

He was drunk and excited, obviously there are people who have seen all three, but i bet its less than 1 out of 10….probably way less.

so far we only have 2 from a board full of 30-something concert junkies!

Originally posted by MindCage:
Saw Blind Melon with Shannon at Woodstock 94.

I don't see how this person thinks no one could have seen them? These weren't bands that no one knew at the time of their deaths…


MindCage
Mindless Faith
Deep6 Productions

me too. it was crazy.. knew he was on something.. wearing a dress and crazy mascara rubbed out… turns out he had dropped acid before the show… died a year later. Unfortunately never got to see Nirvana or Sublime.

..oh and I saw Alice in Chains before Layne died.. but they were around longer than the other three, so not that big of a deal.

i only saw shannon hoon (120 minutes tour with live, PIL and big audio dynamite II). . .missed the nirvana tours and hated sublime, so i had no reason to see them.

Originally posted by samsfresh5:
..oh and I saw Alice in Chains before Layne died.. but they were around longer than the other three, so not that big of a deal.

Only if you saw Alice in Chains with Nirvana…

yes, but did you see radiohead before rock music died?

I saw Nirvana…didn't see Blind Melon or Sublime though.

I actually feel more lucky to have seen Heatmiser (w/Brendan Benson opening).

Other dead rock stars I've seen:

INXS (when Michael Hutchence was still alive)
Material Issue (Jim Ellison was really great)
The Ramones (sadly with CJ and not Dee Dee)

Originally posted by vansmack:

Originally posted by samsfresh5:
..oh and I saw Alice in Chains before Layne died.. but they were around longer than the other three, so not that big of a deal.

Only if you saw Alice in Chains with Nirvana…

i saw alice in chains with layne. . .they were part of lollapalooza 3

Originally posted by bearman:
I saw Nirvana…didn't see Blind Melon or Sublime though.

I actually feel more lucky to have seen Heatmiser (w/Brendan Benson opening).

Other dead rock stars I've seen:

INXS (when Michael Hutchence was still alive)
Material Issue (Jim Ellison was really great)
The Ramones (sadly with CJ and not Dee Dee)

yah, we were trying to think of some other good ones too. thought of Alice In Chains but many ppl saw them on Lollapalooza (I saw them in 1991 with Van Hagar and also in 1991 with the Monsters of Metal tour or something with Slayer and Megadeth or some crap).

never saw the Ramones but did see INXS.

did anyone see Tupac, though?? that would be quite impressive!

I would be impressed if anyone got to see:

Joy Division
The Germs (w/Darby Crash)
The Screamers
The Stooges (w/Dave Alexander)
The Minutemen
The Replacements (w/Bob Stinson)
The Who (w/Keith Moon)
The Clash

For some perspective, I was 10 when Kurt died, 12 when Shannon died and 13 when Bradley died. Also, I grew up in WV, so even though my mom would have GLADLY escorted me to see any of the above bands, that was not exactly an option.

I did however see Wesley Willis before he died, ha. And in the non-musical but still interesting scene, Mitch Hedberg.