Nirvana Hid Behind Pen Cap Chew at the Crocodile

The name on the bill was Pen Cap Chew. The band was Nirvana. On October 4, 1992, Nirvana played a secret show at Seattle’s original Crocodile, opening for Mudhoney.

The venue’s history records the alias and the date, placing the performance at its first home at 2200 Second Avenue. That address matters: the concert belongs to the original Belltown room, not the Crocodile’s later location.

The booking brought Nirvana back into a small Seattle club after the band had become a much larger public presence. The alternate name was part of how the show happened, but the room’s history now makes the connection explicit. For the Crocodile, it remains a specific night when two Seattle bands shared its stage.

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Sources: thecrocodile.com; livenirvana.com.