It was a centre-piece of the iconic 1993 gig in New York, which was later released as an album the following year. The release won Nirvana their only ever Grammy and gained cult-like status as it was recorded just five months before Cobain’s death.

The legendary concert will now be immortalised at The Royal College of Music Museum. Rock journalist Alan di Perna and curator Gabriele Rossi Rognoni will run the exhibition in London, which will be available to attend between June 3 and November 18 2025.

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Speaking to The Guardian on the uniqueness of the guitar, di Perna said: “It’s a very rare instrument and an unsuccessful model. The whole world was going crazy for electric guitars in 1959 and this was Martin’s attempt at making an acoustic guitar electric, and it didn’t really work.

“It’s one of a kind: the guitar was modified for Cobian’s left-hand playing technique… In a way it’s kind of an outcast like Kurt himself. It’s a suitable guitar for him in a lot of ways.”

‘Nirvana Unplugged’ will be familiar to many people who lived throughout the 1990s as it was a mainstay on MTV following Cobain’s untimely death. The performance will forever be adored by fans as it showcased the true spirit of the iconic grunge band and the ‘90s as a whole. Despite pressure from the broadcaster to play their big hits, Cobain and co decided to fill the setlist with several covers including three songs by the relatively unknown band The Meat Puppets.

“I put it up there with The Beatles on the roof of Apple Records in London. Just imagine if John Lennon died five months after that performance? How powerful would that be? That’s what we have with Nirvana Unplugged!” di Perna said.

The Royal College of Music has been loaned the Martin D-18E guitar by it’s owner, Peter Freedman, after he bought it for $6 million (£4.8m) in 2020, which made it the most expensive guitar ever sold at auction.

Freedman stated how he intended to use the guitar as a warning to upcoming artists: “I paid for it but I’m going to use it to highlight the plight of artists worldwide by touring it around and then I’m going to sell it and use the dough for that as well, later” he said after making the purchase.
It will not only be the guitar being immortalised at the exhibition, with the olive-green cardigan Cobain wore for the performance also being on show, along with original gig posters, collectable vinyl records, and pieces from Cobain’s personal musical equipment collection.

A series of events, performances and workshops inspired by the legendary Seattle-based band will coincide with the exhibition in London, making it a must see for any Nirvana fan.

Tickets will go on sale from April 30 for £5, available here.

Paying tribute to Nirvana’s third and final album, the album artwork has been recreated on a pink background. Fans are being encouraged to visit the mural and to leave their messages for the band, honouring the 1993 album.

A mural has been unveiled in Camden to celebrate 30th anniversary of Nirvana’s third and final album, In Utero https://t.co/4JX5whFC8N pic.twitter.com/xQV9QpzHSO

— THE LINE of BEST FIT (@bestfitmusic) November 1, 2023

In Utero was an instant critical and commercial success, debuting at No.1 on the UK Albums Chart and No.1 on the US Billboard 200. The album included iconic tracks such as “Heart-Shaped Box,” “Dumb” and “Rape Me.” To celebrate its 30th anniversary, a special edition reissue of the album was released last week.  

The 30th Anniversary Edition of In Utero is out now! https://t.co/OOTiUVYqsR The Super Deluxe box sets contains 53 unreleased tracks, including two never before released complete concerts from the In Utero tour. Find your preferred format here: https://t.co/OOTiUVYqsR… pic.twitter.com/GtCAIwagvF — Nirvana (@Nirvana) October 27, 2023

Speaking on the album’s impact, Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic said, “When you listen to it, it goes somewhere. It’s dark, it’s beautiful, it’s all points in between. It’s bittersweet. We recorded it in about a week and a few of the songs were the first take. We were well-rehearsed and loved playing together. That was our glue as a band. We played live and it was live to tape.”

Novoselic continued, “It’s amazing what can happen when three people with instruments get together. You could make so much sound in a way that captures the imagination. That’s the beauty of music: you invite people in. The record can be pretty, but it can also be dark. Going back to this record, I was just reminded of our humanity as a group. There were a lot of different statements on there and that’s what you get: the post-’Nevermind’ Nirvana, after becoming a world-famous band.”

The 30th anniversary reissue of In Utero has been released in several formats, including a limited-edition eight LP super deluxe box set, a five CD super deluxe box set and a digital super deluxe edition, amongst others.

Novoselic shared his thoughts on the reissue, saying, “This one’s got a lot of cool things like backstage passes and little things you can hold, like The Who’s ‘Live At Leeds’ record.”

He continued, “I’m excited about the live shows on there, because they used AI. We took the digital audio tapes from the soundboard in Rome, Seattle and Los Angeles, then the AI can separate all the instruments and we got a really good mix out of it.”

The In Utero 30th anniversary reissue is available to purchase in various formats here.

Stream In Utero (30th Anniversary Super Deluxe) below.

Whilst there’s been no announcement from any official sources as of yet, a member of The Vinyl Collective message board posted a pre-order link to the vinyl. The link puts the release down as 20th November, which is two weeks after the DVD release of the Cobain documentary Montage of Heck.

Alongside the DVD launch of Montage of Heck there will also be an official album released on the same day. The LP is still untitled, but it is confirmed that it will be a solo album and promises previously unheard material from the Nirvana frontman.

The Director of Montage of Heck, Brett Morgan, talked of the accompanying album with Bedford + Bowery earlier this year. He commented that the album “will feel like you’re kind of hanging out with Kurt Cobain on a hot summer day in Olympia, Washington as he fiddles about. It’s going to really surprise people. Just to be clear, it’s not a Nirvana album, it’s just Kurt and you’re going to hear him do things you never expected to come out of him.”

For the filming of Montage of Heck Brett Morgan was given unprecedented access to Cobain’s storage facility, where Morgan combed through over 200 hours of audio including a whole trove of unreleased material. Morgan described the music selected for the LP was described as “from thrash to ragtime and everything in between”.

Montage of Heck also used a lot of this unreleased material throughout the film, including Cobain’s rendition of ‘And I love Her’. The DVD of Montage of Heck will be released on 6th November.

You can watch the trailer for the film below: