Seeing the reaction and responses from other Nirvana fans was so warm and rewarding that I always told myself that I’d one day write out a whole article chronicling the entire event. It just doesn’t come up in regular daily conversation, so I decided to log on, reach deep back into the recesses of my mind and answer the questions posted on Reddit as best as I could remember.
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It’s a rarity that I get to talk about the whole experience.
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#Nirvana mtv unplugged ticket stub series
About a year ago, Icons Of Fright co-creator Michael Cucinotta pointed me over to a Reddit threat where a Nirvana fan was asking a series of questions for anyone that was actually there for this monumental performance. I was just so happy I finally got to see my favorite band live for what would be the third of three consecutive times in a single week. I didn’t realize at the time just how important this gig would end up being, both for the band and for pop culture music history in general. When I was about 17 years old, I was at MTV’s live taping of Nirvana’s now legendary Unplugged performance. The headline sale from Friday was Prince’s “Blue Angel” Cloud 2 guitar, used at the height of the revered rock star’s career throughout the 1980s and 90s, which fetched $563,500.I’ve got a confession to make. Saturday was the second day of Julien’s Auctions Music Icons event, which saw more than 800 items go under the hammer. In October last year, the cardigan he wore for the MTV Unplugged performance sold for $334,000. Julien’s Auctions has previously broken world records for Cobain-related items. Three baggage-claim ticket stubs are attached to the handle, along with an Alaska Airlines sticker affixed to the case and the storage compartment contains Cobain’s half-used pack of guitar strings, picks and a suede “stash bag”. It came with the original hard-shell case decorated by the singer-songwriter with a flyer from the punk rock band Poison Idea’s 1990 album Feel the Darkness. The guitar was the seventh of only 302 D-18Es built by Martin and was customised by Cobain, who added a Bartolini pickup to the soundhole. Mr Freedman said: “There were some seriously rich people here and I suppose I could have been completely scared s**tless and somebody who has got billions and billions just pays, what, twenty, thirty million? But I would have kept going.” He said he had no limit on what he would have paid, adding: “I was going to get it. We’ve been in that game forever so I’ve been very lucky with Rode and I’ve been able to give away lots of money, quite a few mill.” Mr Freedman, whose family first opened an electronics shop in Sydney in 1967, added: “The musicians and artists have supported my family since the 60s. I paid for it but I’m going to use it to highlight the plight of artists worldwide by touring it around and then I’m going to sell it and use the dough for that as well, later.” He told the PA news agency he was “scared s**tless and shaking” when the auctioneer’s gavel dropped, but he is proud to be able to use the guitar to support artists and is already thinking of what to do with it next. Mr Freedman plans to display the guitar in a worldwide exhibition tour, taking the instrument to galleries and art spaces with all proceeds going to the performing arts.
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Julien’s Auctions said the sale set five new world records, including most expensive guitar and most expensive piece of memorabilia.
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The winning bid of $6,010,000 came from Australian businessman Peter Freedman, owner of Rode Microphones, who bid in person in Beverly Hills, seeing off competition from around the world. There had been fevered interest in the guitar in the weeks leading up to the sale and organisers Julien’s Auctions opened the bidding at $1 million, but that was quickly shattered. The 1959 Martin D-18E featured in the grunge group’s performance in November 1993, five months before Cobain’s death at the age of 27. The guitar used by Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain during the band’s famous MTV Unplugged in New York concert sold for an incredible $6 million at auction.