Clips of it have floated around the web, but today SPIN unearthed a full 17 minute video of this then-upcoming band called Nirvana on January 24th 1988, performing in an empty Radioshack store in Abderdeen, Washington. The video technically does not feature bassist Kris Novaselic and guitarist/singer Kurt Cobain playing, as they are syncing up their movement with audio from a demo recording they had made the previous day.
It’s also worth noting that Dave Grohl is not on drums in this video, it’s Dale Crover who played on the band’s January ’88 demo. Crover also performed with fellow Seattle grunge veterans , the Melvins for many years. Crover contributed to several Nirvana tracks around this time, which would later go on to be released in various compilations and the first album ‘Bleach’.
This may have been done as simply as a video demo for the band to seek out more recording opportunities and shows. It’s intriguing to see Nirvana in this very raw uninfluenced form. You can see more retro Nirvana fun with this video bootleg of the band performing in Chicago in 1989 here.
