Bootleg tape uncovered from Nirvana's sole Calgary tour stop in 1991 – months before they skyrocketed to fame

On March 4, 1991, a young Calgarian with his dad's Dictaphone (a small cassette recorder) in hand headed to the Westward Club, now the location of Hotel Arts, where a Seattle grunge band was scheduled to play.

Jason (Jay) Pay who had just turned 18, had no way of knowing that the band — Nirvana — was only months away from skyrocketing to fame with one of the best-selling albums of all time, Nevermind.

In the middle of a Calgary snowstorm, Pay and his group of friends made up much of the small crowd there to see Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Dave Grohl. Pay recorded the show on his device.

"I think it was probably one of the last shows where they had to pack up their own gear," Pay said.

Little more was publicly known about that Calgary concert — until now.

A copy of that tape was recently uncovered, 34 years later, by Nirvana enthusiast Mike Jenkins, who was on a mission to find evidence of the now historic concert. He found it at a recent Calgary Music Collectors Show.

"It's amazing to hear it," Jenkins told the Calgary Eyeopener. "You can really hear that tension building and that intensity of Nirvana."

In 1991, the upstart grunge band Nirvana performed a small show at the Westward Club in Calgary. A devoted fan recently discovered what he believes is a recording of the show. He joined the Eyeopener to share more about it.

The set list included: Love Buzz, Sliver, Dive, Floyd the Barber, Breed, Scoff, About a Girl, School, Swap Meet, Been a Son, Negative Creep, Blew, Lithium, Molly's Lips, Territorial Pissings, Spank Thru and Mr. Moustache.

As Pay recorded the concert on his Dictaphone, the red light on the device gave him away to the bassist, Krist Novoselic, who kept yelling at Pay from the stage. He was swearing and telling him to stop recording, Pay recalled.

Wanting to get permission, Pay approached Cobain after the show.

"Krist was kind of pissed, but I went to Kurt Cobain and he was like, 'you're pretty cool.'"

"He said: 'We didn't play any new songs. It's OK, but please just don't sell this.… I don't want to see this in stores."

Now 34 years on, Pay has kept his promise.

Friends Geoff McFetridge and Silas Kaufman were with Pay that night and can be seen in a photograph of the concert that has resurfaced on social media.

The photo looks like it was shot from the stage, but who took it remains a mystery. However, it has brought back fond memories for the group.

"It was like a blizzard, like it was pounding snow … and it was a Monday night," said McFetridge, who was in college at the time. "I got in my pickup truck and drove down to the show in a snowstorm."

He said the "full emotional theatrics of Kurt Cobain" were on display. Despite the small crowd size, the band didn't hold back.

"I've mentioned the show to my kids," he said. "It's probably one of the more, like, maybe the greatest show I ever saw, but definitely memorable because, you know, I didn't know who Nirvana was."

Kaufman, who was in the front row, remembered getting his head stepped on by Cobain.

"Better than an autograph," he told Eyeopener host Loren McGinnis.

Pay recalled drummer David Grohl performing with the flu that night, "so he was opening the door in between songs and puking into the parking lot," he said.

McFetridge remembered Cobain smashing his guitar at the end of the night — likely a copy of a Fender Jaguar.

"It was like a weird guitar, but like, imagine … he had to find one of those guitars and then he smashed it to pieces in Calgary and there's like 40 people there or whatever," McFetridge said. "It's really dedication."

Looking back on the photo, McFetridge, who is now a graphic artist and painter in Los Angeles, said he feels so grateful for his friends — Pay, who now lives in Vancouver, Kaufman, an illustrator and teacher at the Alberta University of the Arts, and their other friends there that night.

So how did Jenkins find a copy of Pay's bootleg recording?

A die-hard fan of the band, Jenkins made a flyer to increase his chances of finding this coveted tape he'd only heard rumours about before.

After sharing the flyer and talking to different vendors at the Calgary Music Collectors Show in April, he connected with Heather Smith, daughter of Larry (Legs) Smith, who used to own a record store called The Attic.

"My dad was really well known for his love of bootleg recordings," she said, noting he was fascinated by the lore of those concerts.

"When Mike approached our table kind of inquiring about this show … my sister and I both were like, wait, I've seen that," Smith said. "And then we kind of dug around in the items that we brought and just happened to find one.

"I thought Mike was the perfect owner."

The tape came with a letter written by Larry, who died last year.

In it, he said: "If one listens closely, the rage and frustrated urgency of Kurt's vocals are enough to warrant a listen. I felt the intensity and musical chemistry of something special happening when I was there that night. It is hard to describe"

Larry got a copy of the original recording from Pay a couple of days after the concert, when Pay traded him for a record.

As for the original tape, Pay still has it, and doesn't intend to sell it.

Jenkins said he's working with the Calgary Cassette Preservation Society to arrange a celebration for the found tape.

"It's a show that is legendary for, you know, a lot of people claiming to have been there. But you know, not that many people actually were. For it to actually (be) recorded is pretty fantastic and unique and spectacular," said the society's Arif Ansari.

"It's a great kind of snapshot of the band just before they got really, really big, and a really unique thing that they came through Calgary and played a club that size.... I think that's really exciting."