Cheap, cheerful, and close enough: Inside the tribute band boom sweeping the UK
On stage, a man throws his shaggy blond hair back and forth in time with the four-chord assault of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. A mosh pit swells in the middle of a crowd of thousands. The air is laced with catharsis, as pints and fists are launched into the air on every churn of guitar. But of course, the man on stage is not Kurt Cobain, who has been dead for 30 years, and the band in question are not Nirvana: this is Nirvana UK, the self-proclaimed number one cover band of the Seattle grunge gods.
“Thirty years ago today a little band called Nirvana were supposed to play here,” says the man to the crowd. “But they couldn’t make it, so we’re here instead. Can I say what an honour it’s been for our tribute band to play on a stage as prestigious as this?”
This was the scene on Friday night at the O2 Academy Brixton where, alongside The Smyths (you guessed it: a cover band of The Smiths), Nirvana UK headlined. More than a year, which killed two people, the venue opened its doors once again, with the owners agreeing to meet no fewer than 77 “extensive and robust” safety measures to regain its licence.
