THE KOOKS'S SETLIST (September 19th, 2015)

THE KOOKS' SETLIST IN GRANADA: September 19th, 2015

"A LOOK BACK TO NIRVANA'S SHOW IN READING, 1992"

On August 30th, 1992 Nirvana headlined the Reading Festival in England. Their performance went down in rock history as legendary.

But at the time, Nirvana's drummer Dave Grohl was sure the show would be Nirvana’s last: “I really thought 'This will be a disaster, this will be the end of our career for sure. Kurt had been in and out of rehab, communication in the band was beginning to be strained. Kurt was living in L.A., Krist and I were in Seattle. People weren’t even sure if we were going to show up. We rehearsed once, the night before, and it wasn’t good.”

As the show began, Cobain was pushed onstage in a wheelchair, dressed in a hospital gown, and jokingly collapsed before jumping up and starting the show with a fiery rendition of “Breed".  Nirvana then ripped through a 25-song, 90-minute performance for an audience of 50,000.

“It turned out to be a wonderful show, and it healed us for a little while,” said Grohl. 

The fact is that it wasn't the best of their shows, but it was the last gig Nirvana ever played in the UK. You can watch the complete show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJGl0FQK9Ew

"1968: THE FIRST ISLE OF WIGHT FESTIVAL"

August 31st, 1968 : Jefferson Airplane headlined the first Isle of Wight Festival, which was a one day event at the time. The festival started rather quietly, Jefferson Airplane being the only overseas act, although it was their British debut. It was however the first great UK rock festival.

Tickets could be purchased in advance for £1.25.. Around 10,000 attended the first IOW festival in 1968. It wasn't much fun for them on Hell field, for the promised transport from all ferry services turned out to be merely a special bus service from Shanklin, nine miles from the principal arrival point at Hyde, 17 miles from Cowes and 20 miles from the Yarmouth ferry. A trench was dug to act as latrines. Moreover, technical difficulties meant often as much as half-hour breaks between groups, who played on a stage constructed from 2 trailers.

Jefferson's Spencer Dryden was, along with the rest of the band, not too happy with the festival. During their 90 minute performance none of the group could hear each other and were constantly forced to stop and re-tune in an attempt to get a uniform sound. Despite this, the Jeffersons got easily the best reception of any of the 14 groups.

This was just the start-up of one of the best festivals in the UK. The rest is history!