In yesterday’s posts I just rambled over the tables, today I’m doing the same via maps. I find it intriguing watching the band’s horizons widen and expand. In 1987 this was a band that barely made it more than a few hours from home, even a drive all the way from Tacoma to Raymond is barely 100 miles. Nirvana really was a band from the middle of nowhere; a lot of bands wouldn’t travel to Seattle because it was so far from the main strip of big audiences and gig locations yet this band wasn’t even a Seattle band at this point – here’s 1987:
The gathering momentum is visible, again, when 1988 is mapped:
There’s still a time lag, however, it isn’t like 1988 starts and the band have moved up a gear. Until that first April show in Seattle, over a year since their first gig, the band are still stuck trolling between Olympia and Tacoma.
It’s clear though that from April Seattle becomes the adopted live ‘home’ very swiftly. Between April 1988 and the end of the year those eleven Seattle shows immediately mean the band have played there more than anywhere else, Olympia may be important but it’s no longer where the future lies.
Nirvana Legacy 