The auction is estimated between $100,000-$150,000
Bonhams Los Angeles will offer never-before-seen Nirvana concert footage, complete with a full U.S. Copyright Office Certificate of Registration, during its Unplugged & Unforgettable: Music Auction, running through September 25th.
Untouched for 35 years, this fresh-to-market video and audio footage documents Nirvana’s wild February 17, 1990, performance at Iguanas in Tijuana, Mexico, as the band promoted their debut album, Bleach.
Estimated at $100,000-$150,000, the 45-minute raw master video features 13 songs, including “About a Girl,” “Negative Creep,” and “Blew,” and shows Kurt Cobain in full flannel, diving into the crowd seven times and smashing two guitars.
The one-of-a-kind auction highlights the raw, unedited footage from the 1990 Iguanas concert, captured on two original master Sony Video 8 tapes. These tapes are labeled “Nirvana I” and “Nirvana II,” with the first being the actual tape that was in the camera Kurt Cobain playfully destroyed on stage. Also included are modern digital archives of this historic event with two Sony mini DV tapes, each a digital transfer of the original Video 8 footage; and a portable SSD hard drive containing the complete raw footage, a professionally edited version of the concert, a watermarked copy for security, and a selection of stills.
The lot is rounded out by an original tour poster for Raji’s nightclub show just two nights before the Iguanas’ performance, and a first original Sub Pop pressing of the album Bleach on white vinyl, a rare collector’s item limited to one thousand copies.
While bootleg clips have circulated over the years, this is the first time the complete master video and audio footage, accompanied by full U.S. copyright via deed of assignment, is available for sale, presenting collectors and music enthusiasts with the rare chance to own a cultural artifact from a band that helped define a generation.
