Nirvana's last concert: Terminal 1, Munich, March 1, 1994

About the artist

Singer-guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic met in high school in Aberdeen, Washington, and started Nirvana in 1987^[1]. Their first album, Bleach, was made in thirty hours with producer Jack Endino for $606.17 and released by Sub Pop in June 1989^[1]. Drummer Dave Grohl joined in 1990^[1].

Nevermind, released by Geffen on September 24, 1991^[2], gave the band their first hit single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit," and reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 on January 11, 1992^[3]. "Heart-Shaped Box" was the lead single from In Utero (1993)^[4][5]. On September 25, 1993, Nirvana played Saturday Night Live with former Germs guitarist Pat Smear on second guitar, their first TV performance as a four-piece^[6].

Why this was the last show

In February 1994 Nirvana were touring Europe behind In Utero^[7], on what the Yorkshire Evening Post calls the European leg of their In Utero world tour^[8]. After Paris on February 13, and dates that took them to Barcelona, Milan and Slovenia^[7], they played Munich on March 1^[9]. Pat Smear was still with them and had taken over backing vocals from Grohl; cellist Melora Creager had joined for this leg, replacing Lori Goldston, who had spent the previous year on the road with the band^[10]. Cobain had personally asked the Melvins, his childhood heroes, to open the European dates^[7]. The Melvins' Buzz Osborne was a childhood friend of Cobain's, and his band opened the Munich show too^[9].

The Munich show was not announced as a farewell. Radio X notes that the band played it not knowing it would be their last^[11]. According to Consequence, the rest of the tour was cancelled, including two more scheduled shows in Germany^[12][10]. The German news agency dpa reported that an extra Munich date had also been planned and was called off at short notice^[13].

Kurt Cobain died on April 5, 1994, at the age of 27^[14]. Munich turned out to be the last time Cobain, Novoselic, Grohl and Smear played live as Nirvana^[15].

What is known about the day

Terminal 1 stood on the site of Munich's old Riem airport^[13]; English-language reports often call it "Terminal Einz"^[15][11]. Consequence describes it as an old airport hangar that had been shut down two years earlier^[12], and Guitar World as a WWII-era airplane hangar now used for concerts^[7]. The Munich city magazine Mit Vergnügen recalls that after the new airport opened, the old one became a place for parties and concerts for about three years; the Messestadt Riem district stands there today^[16]. Rolling Stone says the room was poorly suited to a rock show and sounded bad^[10].

Capacity is given as 3,050^[7][15] or 3,000^[11][17], and the show was sold out^[13]. According to Guitar World, it was Nirvana's first show in Germany in three and a half years^[7].

Nirvana opened, on the spur of the moment, with the Cars' 1978 hit "My Best Friend's Girl"^[9][15], which Guitar World describes as one of the first songs Cobain learned on guitar^[18]. According to Radio X, Novoselic and Cobain sang another Cars song, "Moving in Stereo," as an outro^[11]. Six songs in, a power cut stopped "Come as You Are"; when the power came back, the band carried on^[11][9].

According to UCR, the show ran 23 songs and about 80 minutes, the shortest of the tour^[9]. The main set ended with "Territorial Pissings," and the encore opened with David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World"^[5][11]. Radio X's setlist leaves out "Sliver" and lists 22 songs^[11]. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was not played^[9][11]. dpa noted that the band's biggest hit was missing from their very last concert, and one fan who was there told the agency that the night had felt strange, somehow unfinished^[13].

The last song was "Heart-Shaped Box," the lead single from In Utero^[5][9]. Rolling Stone reports that local TV cameras filmed only the first few songs and that no video of the rest has surfaced; the song survives as an audio recording^[10].

What the show left behind

No official video or audio of the show has been released^[8]. Kerrang! shared footage from the night in 2021^[15], and Guitar World posted professionally shot film of the opening cover in 2022^[18]. The show has been revisited on its anniversaries: dpa gathered fans' memories for the 25th in 2019^[13], and UCR looked back at the night for the 30th in 2024^[9].

On November 1, 1994, MTV Unplugged in New York, recorded the previous November 18, was released^[19]. It debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200^[20]. Smear had been part of that expanded touring lineup as well^[1].

In October 1994, Grohl spent six days in a Seattle studio recording songs on which he sang and played almost every part. They became Foo Fighters' self-titled debut album in July 1995, and Smear later joined that band too^[21]. Novoselic returned to the stage in Seattle in 1995 with a new band, Sweet 75, which made one album before breaking up^[2].

Nirvana were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2014; the inductees were Cobain, Novoselic and Grohl^[4]. At the ceremony at Barclays Center in New York on April 10, Novoselic, Grohl and Smear played with Joan Jett, St. Vincent, Kim Gordon and Lorde, each singing one song^[22]. On January 30, 2025, the three turned up at FireAid, a benefit for victims of the Los Angeles wildfires, without having been on the official bill; St. Vincent, Kim Gordon, Joan Jett and Violet Grohl took turns on vocals^[23][24]. According to Rolling Stone UK, the surviving members had last shared a stage in 2018, at Cal Jam in San Bernardino^[23]. The Associated Press reported FireAid as a Nirvana reunion^[24]. This archive does not count appearances at events like these, without Cobain, as the band returning, and so files Munich as "Final in retrospect."

Nirvana first toured Japan in February 1992. The complete recording of their February 19 show at Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo was included in the 30th-anniversary edition of Nevermind in 2021^[25].

Nobody announced Munich as the end. The night closed with "Heart-Shaped Box."