Featuring Nirvana, American hip hop act
Cypress Hill, and American rock band
the Breeders, the Pier 48 concert was pre-recorded for a worldwide New Year's Eve broadcast. The show was originally set to feature American grunge band
Pearl Jam as the co-headlining act, and was conceived in part as a reconciliation between Nirvana and Pearl Jam, following Nirvana's vocalist and guitarist
Kurt Cobain's attacks on the latter in the press. However, Pearl Jam cancelled their appearance the day of the show, with the official reason being that the band's vocalist,
Eddie Vedder, had the flu.
The performance With Pearl Jam's cancellation, Nirvana's extended set resembled a typical concert from the
In Utero tour, although it excluded the two quietest set list regulars, "
Polly" and "
Dumb". Also absent was the band's 1991 breakthrough single, "
Smells Like Teen Spirit". The concert featured material from the band's 1991 sophomore album,
Nevermind, and
In Utero most prominently, along with three songs from their 1989 debut album,
Bleach, and the 1990 single, "
Sliver". It also included a cover of "
The Man Who Sold the World" by English rock musician
David Bowie, which they occasionally performed during the
In Utero tour, including their
MTV Unplugged appearance the previous month. The show ended with a rare
In Utero-era performance of the
Nevermind hidden track, "
Endless, Nameless". The performance featured second guitarist
Pat Smear, who had joined the band at the start of the
In Utero tour, and cellist
Lori Goldston. As with other shows on the tour, the stage was decorated with winged anatomical models and fake trees. At the end of "Endless, Nameless," the band smashed their instruments and stage props, with Cobain decapitating one of the winged models with his guitar. As McCarthy-Miller recalled, "There's a shot where [Cobain] walks up to the camera guy on stage, a guy named Charlie Huntley, and I'm in the booth directing, telling [Charlie] 'Stay with him!' And then Kurt ends up spitting in the lens. It was a moment."
Previously-released songs The original broadcast first aired at 10 p.m. on December 31, 1993. In October 1996, the Pier 48 version of "
Scentless Apprentice" appeared on the live compilation
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah, the only commercially available official release from the concert prior to the release of the DVD. In November 1996,
MTV2 in the US began airing the Pier 48 version of "
Drain You" as a
music video for promotion of the
From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah album, even though it is a different version recorded on December 28, 1991 at
Del Mar Fairgrounds in
Del Mar, California, that appears on the album. The video was also played on
Rage,
Red and
ARC in Australia. There is no known footage of the Del Mar Fairgrounds version. ==Track listing==