Nirvana Opened the Nevermind Tour at Toronto’s Opera House

On September 20, 1991, Nirvana played Toronto’s Opera House at the start of the North American Nevermind tour. The album’s official release date was four days away.

The surviving concert record places “Drain You,” “Breed,” “Lithium” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” in the set alongside earlier material. Live Nirvana’s archive also documents an interruption when Dave Grohl broke his bass-drum head during “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” The evening survives through details of an actual working band, as well as its place in the album’s chronology.

For the Opera House, the date is unusually well positioned: the tour began in this Toronto room just before the release that would transform the band’s reach. The history belongs to that September performance, with the larger story still unfolding.

Explore The Opera House on CouchLot.

Sources: livenirvana.com; nirvana.com.