Well, the idea of seeing these three bands together seemed great at first, but a little consideration of the location left me a bit less optimistic. I didn't buy tickets when they were available, but then at the last minute decided I wanted to go. Nevertheless, after a green bean burrito at Taco Bell, I parked across the street and tried the good ol' A-Pay (anti-pay) method of obtaining entry. Score! After about twenty minutes of standing around looking like an asshole this guy comes up to me and starts talking. Seems we skateboarded some place together in another decade, and his name was Ryan. We shook hands, and wow, he had an extra ticket, but too bad it wasn't for the floor, it was for upper deck seating only. Aw, darn. So much for not paying...I gave the guy eight bucks. Well spent, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

So Chokebore came on. These guys have a couple singles out, and I guess they're on AmRep. Now, Amphetamine Reptile bands usually have a pretty distinctive sound, and this wasn't it, at least not from my hearing point. They were actually melodic, and although after awhile they started to drone on (probably from me not knowing even one of their songs), they were enjoyable. The singer carried on a bit too much.

The Butthole Surfers came on next, and had I seen the same show at a packed-in 100 person capacity show I might have loved it. But the sound and atmosphere sucks at the Sports Arena. The Butthole Surfers do not lend themselves to sports very well. They weren't as intense as I've seen them in the past, and that made a few songs good, but most songs lame. The definite highlight was when they played a souped up/mutilated version of "The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey's Grave" from the first record. To see that song being played in the San Diego Sports was worth my eight bucks by itself.

Nirvana came on at 9:15 pm, opening with "Scentless Apprentice" from the new album, and played 22 more songs. Kurt Cobain's voice is sooo good, and he's proved himself one of the best songwriters rock has known. No matter what goes on in his private life, when he's on stage he's brilliant. Kris Noveselic, too. He's probably the happiest bass player alive.

Yeah, at one time we were all sick of hearing "Smells Like Teen Spirit" coming from cars and houses everywhere, but to see Nirvana play it to 5,000 yelling, screaming teenagers (who had time to kill because it's Christmas Holiday and they didn't have school the next day) sent chills up the back of my neck. Chills. Amazing. They played these songs and more: "School," "Serve the Servants," "In Bloom," "Sliver," "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle," "Milk It," "About a Girl," "Polly," "Dumb," and "Rape Me." They finished with "Heart-Shaped Box," which rocks, like all the other songs they played. Finishing with a noise-fest which ended at 10:52 pm, they waved good-bye and walked off-stage. Nirvana rules, and while the Butthole Surfers weren't able to overcome the crappy venue, Nirvana did, and at the same time proved that they have nothing to prove.