Ein Abend in Wien

Dinosaur Jr

2009-10-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

Dinosaur Jr. is an American alternative rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1984. Originally called Dinosaur prior to legal issues that forced the group to change their name, the band disbanded in 1997 until reuniting in 2005. Guitarist J Mascis, bassist Lou Barlow and drummer Murph were the band's founding and current members; however, Mascis has been the group's sole continual member.
Their distinct sound, characterized by high gain, extensive use of feedback and distortion, and frontman J Mascis's melodic guitar solos, were highly influential in the alternative rock movement of the 1990s, which is exemplified by the success of acknowledged fan Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, among others. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinosaur_Jr)

Scheduled
Friday, 31 August 1991, "Heldenplatz", 00:45 -

Line up
J Mascis - vocals, guitar; Lou Barlow - bass, vocals; Murph - drums

Set list
00 The wagon

00 The wagon

Recordings
I have one of the two versions of The Wagon played that night taken from a radio broadcast.

Other info

Article from festival booklet

Actually, they played The Wagon early on in the set at EAIW in rotterdam, near the end of the show J asked for requests. Someone shouted The Wagon so WTH they played it again! Probably no telling which one this is. (lmdabrowski, http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=269748)

Quazar

2009-09-28T00:11:00.001-07:00

Bio

Scheduled
Friday, 31 August 1991, "Ballhaus", 03:20 -

Line up
Farida Merville – vocals; Gert van Veen – keyboards; Eric Cycle – bass

Set list
Unknown

Recordings
Unknown

Other info

Article from festival booklet.

Schedule

2009-09-28T00:08:00.001-07:00

Schedule from festival booklet

Nirvana

2009-09-27T20:44:00.000-07:00

Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting being Dave Grohl, who joined the band in 1990. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana_(band))

Scheduled
Saturday, 1 September 1991, "Trabanthalle", 23:30 -

Line up
Kurdt Cobain - vocals, guitar; Krist Novocelic - bass; Dave Grohl - drums

Set list
01 Polly
02 Drain you
03 School
04 Floyd the barber
05 Smells like Teen Spirit
06 Come as you are
07 About a girl
08 Breed
09 Sliver
10 In bloom
11 Been a son
12 Negative creep

Recordings
Two separate complete audience video recordings exist (one shot from in front of the stage and one side shot) which is quite remarkable given the band's relative obscurity at the time. The titles in the set list above link directly to YouTube videos as uploaded by Curmodgeon. They are combinations of the front and side shot videos and have good sound.

The most notable bootleg CD with these recordings is Live Buzz, but without a doubt, many more exist. I have an mp3 copy of Live Buzz, it's and audience recording with good sound quality.

Front cover of Live Buzz.

Other info

Article from festival booklet.

The show has been widely earmarked as "the first Nirvana show in Holland." This is untrue: they played a number of shows in Holland on tour with Tad between 1 and 5 November 1989 (VPRO radio session Hilversum, Nighttown Rotterdam, Vera Groningen, Tivoli Utrecht, Gigant Apeldoorn, Melkweg Amsterdam) . (http://www.nirvanaguide.com/1989.php)

Zondag 1 september 1991 trad Nirvana op tijdens het Ein abend in Wien-festival in Rotterdam.
The Smashing Pumpkins waren toen de nieuwe sensatie, waar iedereen het over had. Nirvana was een onbekende band die op het laatste moment was toegevoegd (Nevermind zou pas een maand later verschijnen). Toen Sietse Meijer, journalist van NRC Handelsblad en OOR, voor het eerst een bandje van de plaat Nevermind hoorde, regelde hij direct dat Nirvana verschillende interviews kreeg. Hij had nog nooit zoiets goeds gehoord.
Op het festival in Rotterdam mocht Nirvana niet op het hoofdpodium optreden; The Smashing Pumpkins wel. Hierover waren ze zo boos dat ze de volledige gehuurde apparatuur aan gort hebben geslagen. Toen ze aan de grote geluidstoren wilden beginnen, werden ze door de politie afgevoerd. Het karige loon dat ze met hun optreden zouden verdienen, werd niet uitbetaald. (http://home.casema.nl/b.elzerman/KurtCobain/nirvana.html)

A journalist who spoke with Nirvana that day said:
"I mainly spoke with Cobain, the other two went to the Doelen to check it out. On their return they were moaning about the small hall they would have to play, while a band like the Smashing Pumpkins was on the main stage. This arose a wayward atmosphere."
It really did, Nirvana completely trashed the stage. Parts of this performance can be seen in the video for Lithium. (http://forums.netphoria.org/showthread.php?t=108337&referrerid=11388)

In the weekend of the 31st of August and the 1st of September 1991 takes place the heavily promoted Ein Abend In Wien. On the bill we find among others Nirvana, who are touring to support Sonic Youth, awaiting the release of their 2nd album NEVERMIND. The band has traded Sub Pop for major Geffen by now, that has given the group an intense and extensive tour schedule. According to Coos Zuijdwijk, press promoter for BMG/Ariola, the Dutch interest in Nirvana is almost nil at that moment. ‘In August I had some tapes from the album and no one wanted them.’ Willem Vennema from organizer Mojo Concerts confirms this; ‘At that moment no one was interested in the group, no matter what all the Dutch magazines said later on. We put them on the Ein Abend In Wien bill, under protest, because Sonic Youth insisted.’
The only one really interested in the group at that moment was Gutter Heijting from Opscene, who tried already a phone interview with Cobain beginning of August. ‘Because of the bad connection it did not last long and became unusable. A big pity, but after shouting for 10 minutes we called it quits. I have left only one now-remarkable quote about when he started playing guitar. He told me his father left his mother and she ditched all his guns in the river. Kurt fished them out and sold them to make money to buy guitars.'
Sunday the 1st of September the group is strolling through the city with new drummer Dave Grohl when they bump into an acquaintance. Lotto IJzermans; ‘They remembered exactly who I was, while I had troubles remembering who they were.’ Scheduled for that afternoon are interviews and photo sessions in the Hilton hotel. Sietse Mijers talks to them on behalf of OOR; ‘When I applied for the interview I was warned the group could be annoying, they were known for being difficult to deal with. With seemed pretty right, they were very restless. During the interview the other two were neatly at my table, but Kurt was hanging out of the window or leaving the room.’ After that it is the turn of Klaas-Jan Burema for the Brabant Pers. ‘I mainly spoke with Cobain, the other two went to the Doelen to check it out. On their return they were moaning about the small hall they would have to play, while a band like the Smashing Pumpkins was on the main stage. This arose a wayward atmosphere. Kurt was pretty clear and took all the time in the world, about half an hour. He told me for example that he thought Nevermind was produced too clean, and that the follow up would have to be more rough. The other two were pretty uninterested.’
After that photographer Niels van Iperen takes the band outside for a photo shoot; ‘They were pretty difficult kids, fooling around, especially Kurt didn’t feel like doing anything. Once outside Dave suggested as a joke to go into the fountain in front of the hotel. It seemed like a good idea to me, I praised it, but Kurt didn’t want. The other two did like they said after which Kurt had to join too. He sat down on the fountain and it turned out to be a nice session. Strange guy: not really unpleasant, but distant in some way. First moaning, then cooperating and finally enjoying it all.’
Roy Tee tried to shoot Nirvana after that. ‘I knew little about the group, looking at the name I expected spacey seventies music. It was one of many photo assignments I had for that weekend. I wanted to shoot them inside and had laid my eye on an empty dining room on the first floor. This room was full of tables, with clean white tablecloths. First thing Kurt did was walk on all those tables with his dirty shoes. When he finally finished freaking, I got him together with the other two for 10 minutes of posing. He was quickly bored and started making funny faces so I stopped there.’
That night at 23:30 Nirvana takes the stage of the Trabanthalle for what would to become a memorable performance. Encouraged by Kim Gordon and Thurston Moore from Sonic Youth, who will watch the show from the balcony behind the stage, the group gives an immense energetic and intense show. According to Sietse Meijer, the hall was loaded ‘with dancing people while there was hardly no space for that.’ Also present Volkskrant-journalist Henrico Prins claims though that the hall ‘was not as full as is remembered now, people could simply not get in cause there was a big crowd in front of the only 2 entrance doors. The rest of the hall was semi-full.’ Willem Venema confirms that, he states around 200-300 people.
The show ends in chaos. In Come As You Are Michael Azzerad described the situation as following: ‘For the last show of the tour, in Rotterdam, the group got drunk. Near the end of the show Krist climbed on the PA tower with his trouser on his ankles and a bottle in his hand. Security runs on stage and pulls him down, while Kurt was smashing up everything around him. One of the security guys lashes out to Krist, which started a dispute. Krist got removed from the hall, but came back and started fighting the promoter.’
Willem Venema, that same promoter, tells another story. ‘I was warned before the show by my stage manager that they would start throwing with their amps and drum kit. They did that every night, part of the show. I decided to keep an eye open and I told their tour manager that I would intervene when they would take our stuff, PA and microphones, for the simple reason that there was another band after them. At the end of the show Krist gets up the PA and made a start throwing the speakers down the stage. Life threatening as there was people down there. I walked up to him and pulled him off the PA by his belt. On which Kurt started to interfere , telling me not to touch his buddy. They acted like they were very drunk.’
‘Ooch, I dealt with bigger rats then Nirvana… I have seen so many groups that decide to close a show by tearing everything down,’ Venema continues. ‘When you assume your record company will pay for the damages, you are just another spoiled American rich kid… That I fought with Krist is bullshit. The security that night was dressed as nurses so when they came to help me get Krist out of the PA, the whole stage was full of hospital personnel. You cannot call that a fight, cause when 4 security guys grabs you, you cannot move anymore. Neither were they evicted from the venue, they simply went back to their hotel. They also threw with fruits, on which Thurston Moore lectured them, kind of like: now piss off boys.’ (from Dutch pop magazine OOR Nr.23 – 19 Nov. 1994 by Wim Niehaus & Pieter van Adrichem) (http://taononstop.free.fr/www/taononstop.com/old/OOR_23.html)

Paris

2009-09-27T20:24:00.000-07:00

Oscar Jackson, Jr. (born October 29, 1967), better known by his stage name Paris is an American hip hop artist from San Francisco, California. He was once a member of the Nation of Islam, but now expresses no formal religious affiliation or belief. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_(rapper))

Scheduled
Friday, 31 August 1991, "Heldenplatz", 02:15 - 02:55 (show)
Saturday, 1 September 1991, "Manege", 20:50 - 21:10 (speech)

Line up
Paris - vocals;

Set list
Unknown

Recordings
Unknown

Other info

Article from festival booklet

Loose

2009-09-27T18:42:00.000-07:00

35007 ("Loose" in beghilos: calculator spelling) is a band from the Netherlands. The sound of 35007 has elements of stoner rock, psychedelic rock, space rock and progressive rock. 35007 was formed in Eindhoven, The Netherlands at the end of the eighties and originate from The Alabama Kids. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/35007)

Scheduled
Saturday, 1 September 1991, "Trabanthalle", 20:15

Line up
Eeuwout Baart - vocals; Mark Sponselee - sounds, synths; Bertus Fridael - guitar; Michel Boekhoudt - bassguitar; Jacco van Rooy - drums; Luk Sponselee - vj and Pidah Kloos - sounds, soundengineer.

Set list
Unknown

Recordings
Unknown

Other info

Article from festival booklet

The Paradogs

2009-09-27T18:11:00.000-07:00

Bio

Scheduled
Saturday, 1 September 1991, "Trabanthalle", 22:25

Line up
Toon van Bodegem – vocals; Jaap Deelstra – guitars; Eric Geevers (aka Bietel) – bass; Jelle van Buuren – drums

Set list
Unknown

Recordings
Unknown

Other info

Article from festival booklet

That same weekend, summer of 1991, Paradogs played the huge Ein Abend In Wien festival in Rotterdam, and they shared a dressing room with another trio. They were from Seattle and they were called Nirvana.
"I remember Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, alright," says Eric; "and although I honestly can't remember what was said, I'm sure I talked to Kurt Cobain. Probably just hello, I'm Eric, hi, we're Nirvana; that kinda thing. What I do remember is that one of those other guys from Nirvana tried to steal our beers after the show, and we got into a fight..."
According to Eric, it was Dave Grohl, being pissed as a parrot, who tried to nick a sixpack. Somehow he slipped and fell, got up, accused Eric of pushing him, and tried to punch him. Which isn't easy when you're drunk... so after some fisticuffs, security took care of things and threw Mr Grohl out...
"My claim to fame, kids..."
(http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palladium/9919/paradogs.htm)

Bob Mould

2009-09-27T07:51:00.001-07:00

Bob Mould (born Robert Arthur Mould, October 16, 1960, Malone, New York) is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Mould)

Scheduled

Friday, 31 August 1991, "Trabanthalle", 00:40 -

Line up

Bob Mould - vocals, guitar

Set list

01 Wishing well

02 Hear me calling

03 If you want me out of your life (cut)

(http://people.zeelandnet.nl/sveingold/boots/)

Recordings

A recording of tracks 01 - 03 exists

Other info

Article from festival booklet

The Wedding Present

2009-09-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

The Wedding Present are a British indie rock group based in Leeds, England, formed in 1985 from the ashes of the Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, Buzzcocks and Gang of Four. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wedding_Present)

Scheduled

Friday, 31 August 1991, "Heldenplatz", 20:30 -

Line up

David Gedge - vocals, guitar; Paul Dorrington - guitar; Keith Gregory - bass; Simon Smith - drums

Set list

02 Suck

(http://people.zeelandnet.nl/sveingold/boots/)

Recordings

A recording of tracks 01 - 06 exists, total time 20'52".

Other info

Article from festival booklet

Mark Eitzel

2009-09-27T07:43:00.000-07:00

Mark Eitzel (born January 30, 1959, Walnut Creek, California) is a musician, best known as a songwriter and lead singer of the San Francisco band American Music Club. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Eitzel)

Scheduled

Friday, 31 August 1991, "Manege", 01:25 -

Line up

Mark Eitzel - vocals, guitar

Set list

01 Apology for an accident
02 What the pillar of salt held up
03 What Godzilla said...
04 Blue and grey shirt
05 Western sky
06 Gary's song
07 Miracle on 8th St
08 Outside this bar
09 Last harbour
10 Firefly
11 Jesus' hands

Recordings

A complete audience recording exists, approx 40".

Other info

Article from festival booklet

The Smashing Pumpkins

2009-09-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Disavowing the punk rock roots shared by many of their alt-rock contemporaries, the Pumpkins have a diverse, densely layered, and guitar-heavy sound, containing elements of gothic rock, heavy metal, dream pop, psychedelic rock, arena rock, shoegazer-style production and, in later recordings, electronica. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Smashing_Pumpkins)

Scheduled

Saturday, 1 September 1991, "Heldenplatz", 22:35

Line up

Billy Corgan - vocals, guitar; James Iha - guitar; D'Arcy Wretzky - bass; Jimmy Chamberlain - drums

Set list

01 Rocket

02 Tristessa

03 Window paine

04 Bury me

05 Siva

06 Silverfuck

Recordings

A complete audience recording of 01 - 06 exists, both in audio and video (approx 37"). I have a lossless (flac) radio recording of 03 - 06 (approx 28"). Pro-shot video clips were aired by Dutch TV. (http://www.splra.org/wiki/index.php?title=Tsp1991-09-01)

Other info

First Smashing Pumpkins show in the Netherlands, or outside of North America for that matter...

Article from festival booklet

This is the legendary Ein Abend in Wien festival in Rotterdam where the Pumpkins performed with, among others, Nirvana, Sonic Youth and Mudhoney (the line-up was incredible). I guess it's also the first European Pumpkins show. Courtney was at this show with Billy. Two months later, Kurt and she started dating. These really were the good old grunge days where the different bands competed with each other. The show took place a few weeks before Nevermind came out. The Pumpkins at that time were regarded, in Holland at least, as the "next big thing" and played on the main stage. Does anyone have the video of this Pumpkin performance? I saw a pro vid on someone's bootlist which features some excerpts (7 minutes). (http://forums.netphoria.org/showthread.php?t=108337&referrerid=11388)

Ein abend in Wien: Rotterdam 1991. Ik wilde er heen, maar niemand wilde mee. Waarom? Vanwege dat ene bandje wiens debuut cd ik zo goed vond: GISH. Wist ik veel dat Nirvana er toen ook stond (hun NEVERMIND stond op punt van uitkomen). Ik wilde de Pumpkins zien. Ben niet gegaan omdat ik zo'n festival niet leuk vond om in mijn uppie te bezoeken (21 jaar en dan toch aan de hand van vrienden meegenomen moeten worden). - Door aERodynamIC - Wednesday 13 October 2004 15:03. (http://vpro.react.nl/3voor12/forum/view_message/35089)

Nine Inch Nails

2009-09-25T23:32:00.001-07:00

Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction. NIN's music straddles a wide range of genres, while retaining a characteristic sound using electronic instruments and processing. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_inch_nails)

Scheduled

Saturday, 1 September 1991, "Ballhaus", 22:55 -

Line up

Trent Reznor - vocals, guitar; Richard Patrick - guitar, backing vocals; James Woolley - keyboards, programming, backing vocals; Jeff Ward - drums

Set list

01 Down in it

02 Sin

03 Get down, make love

04 Head like a hole

Recordings

I have a lossless (flac) radio recording of tracks 01-04, 17" total. They are also released on the bootleg CD Solid Gold Hell (Cocomelos Records, 1993), mistakenly listed as "recorded in Vienna..."

Front cover of Solid Gold Hell.

Other info

Article from festival booklet

Hi Ho Silver

2009-09-25T01:52:00.001-07:00

From Rotterdam.

Scheduled

Friday, 31 August 1991, "Trabanthalle", 20:45 -

Line up
Yono Achmat - vocals; John van Dijke - guitar; Eric Boudewijns - keyboards; Adrian Goormachtigh (or Marcel van Dijke) - bass; Clemens Cillekens - drums

Set list
00 Ouija chord

Recordings
A video clip of Ouija Chord is available on YouTube.

Other info

Article from festival booklet

D-Shake

2009-09-24T20:11:00.003-07:00

Real name: Aad de Mooy. Dutch house pioneer who was the first to score a big hit in the UK. Pseudonyms: Cat Scanner, D-Shake, Electric Sweat, Hallucination Generation, House Of Nachos, Hyper, Interface, Nu-Tro-Gen, Paradise 3001, Shake Inc, Squid, Super Ragga Gabba, Time Warp. Re-appears ten years later in Flygang and as Alex Cortiz. (http://www.popinstituut.nl/encyclopedie/biografie/aad-de-mooy.5133.html?lang=EN)

One of the tracks often cited as the first gabber track is "Yaaaah" by Amsterdam-based D-Shake. He was also to be the first to use the term gabber in a 1990 Dutch TV program. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_the_Netherlands)

D-Shake was DJ at the "Ballhaus" on Saturday night.

DNA

2009-09-24T20:11:00.001-07:00

DJ DNA (DoNotAsk) (Arjen de Vreede) was a member of Dutch band Urban Dance Squad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_Dance_Squad)

DNA was DJ in the "Ballhaus" on Friday night.

Don Bajema

2009-09-24T20:10:00.000-07:00

Don Bajema is a novelist, actor, and screenwriter. Since 1979, cast in West Coast Premiere of Sam Shepard's 'Curse of the Starving Class' is Los Angeles. Featured in acclaimed cab driver movie 'Signal Seven.' Also collaborated with Rob Nilsson and played a lead role in his Sundance Film Festival Grand Prize winner 'Heat & Sunlight.' (1988) Head writer for 'Choosing Success', recipient of several national awards in multi-media for this CD-ROM targeting teenagers "at risk." Published two highly acclaimed novels, 'Boy In The Air' and 'Reach.' Bajema reads his work frequently throughout Europe sharing the bill with artists such as Jim Carrol, John Cale, Lydia Lunch, Henry Rollins, Exene Cervenka, Hubert Selby and Dave Alvin. (http://www.chalkfilm.org/bios.html)

Scheduled

Other info

Spoken word performance.

Lee Ranaldo

2009-09-24T20:09:00.002-07:00

Lee M. Ranaldo (born February 3, 1956) is an American singer, guitarist, writer and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the rock band Sonic Youth. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Ranaldo)

Scheduled
Friday, 31 August 1991, "Manege", 23:05 -

Other info
Besides his lecture on Friday, Ranaldo played with Sonic Youth on Sunday.

Charles et les Lulus

2009-09-24T20:09:00.001-07:00

This group is what could be considered as a Belgian "supergroup", with Arno, living legend Roland and the multitalented instrumentalists Ad Cominotto (also known as the piano-player for "Leuven Centraal") and Piet Jorens (also known as the percussionist on found objects during the summer of 1998 in "Tips for Trips", collaborated with dEUS, Vive La Fête). Together they recorded an album in 1991 entitled "Charles et Les Lulus" on which they interpret old (and new) blues classics in a unique way. On stage they performed the songs on the album together with some of Arno's own music. (http://houbi.com/belpop/groups/charles.htm)

Scheduled

Line up

Arno Hintjens - vocals, melodica; Ad Cominotto - keyboards, accordion; Roland Van Campenhout - guitar; Piet Jorens - drums

Set list

Recordings

Other info

Blur

2009-09-24T20:07:00.000-07:00

Blur are an English alternative rock band formed in London in 1989 as Seymour. Blur's debut album Leisure (1991) incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing. Following a stylistic change—influenced by English guitar pop groups such as The Kinks, The Beatles and XTC—Blur released the Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995) albums. As a result, the band helped to popularise the Britpop genre and achieved mass popularity in the UK, aided by a famous chart battle with rival band Oasis dubbed "The Battle of Britpop". (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blur_(band))

Scheduled
Friday, 31 August 1991, "Ballhaus", 22:40 -

Line up
Damon Albarn - vocals; Graham Coxon - guitar; Alex James - bass; Dave Rowntree - drums

Set list
01 Intro
02 Explain
03 Bang
04 Hi cool
05 Bad day
06 Only water
07 Turn it up
08 She's so high
09 There's no other way
10 Wear me down
11 Come together
12 Outro

Recordings
A soundboard/radio recording of tracks 01-12 exists.

Other info

Article from festival booklet

Pandora's Music Box

2009-09-24T00:51:00.000-07:00

Ein Abend in Wien was the one-of successor of the Pandora's Music Box festivals organized at the same location from 1983 to 1985. Find everything you always wanted to know but were afraid to ask here: http://pandoras-music-box.blogspot.com