Better Unplugged AIC or Nirvana?

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rizzdaddy
rizzdaddy Posts: 262
edited November 2006 in Other Music
I know the Pearl Jam one is the best, but do you like the Nirvana or AIC's unplugged better?

I personally have both on video and I think I like AIC better.
08-19-08 (Riverside Theater) Vedder(Solo) Milwaukee, WI
07-02-11 (Orpheum Theatre) Vedder(Solo) Minneapolis, MN
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  • prytocorduroy
    prytocorduroy Posts: 4,355
    I love all three, and yes PJ's is the best. What sucks about AIC and Nirvana's Unplugged is that both frontment are dead. It's sad watching them in one of their last shows :(

    That being said, I favor Nirvana's. Call it personal bias or whatever. But I was sold at The Man Who Sold the World. Followed by the best performance of Pennyroyal Tea, and an amazing Polly. Not to mention turning Meat Puppets songs (that I don't really like) into great tunes, just by having Kurt's voice over it. Also, unlike AIC, Nirvana played mostly non-hits (most were made popular because of the show), really making the show very, very special. I also find it funny that Kurt restrung a right handed guitar instead of getting a left handed one ;)

    The vocals from both are absolutely bone chilling, but Layne was too fucked up at that point and it really showed. I can hardly look at Layne's eyes in that performance :o
  • yosi1
    yosi1 Posts: 3,272
    It's a real toss-up for me. I really don't like Nirvana in general, but their Unplugged performance is really awesome. It's the only Nirvana album I still have. But, even so, I just can connect with the AIC one more. The harmonies are really beautiful, and their songs just carry over so well accoustically. Frogs from AIC's performance is in my opinion one of the most chilling performances I have ever heard. It's so sad and I think the lyrics "Why's it have to be this way
    Be this way" are especially poignant now after Layne's death. All the lyrics there from the songs they played are, really.
    you couldn't swing if you were hangin' from a palm tree in a hurricane.
  • gtbrown77
    gtbrown77 Posts: 143
    I personally enjoy the AIC Unplugged more than Nirvana, and would consider the AIC show the best of the three mentioned here. Maybe it's because I like AIC more than Nirvana, but I think that the songs translate so well to the acoustic setting, and after having seen some of the video from the AIC performance, the fact that Layne just LOOKS so bad and depressed seems to drive those songs home even more. I suppose you could say the same about Kurt too...but Layne's voice was just always so much more chilling.

    That being said, Nirvana's Unplugged CD is the Nirvana CD that gets the most plays in my CD player.
    "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
    -John Lennon
  • uninnocent
    uninnocent Posts: 1,565
    aic. a lot of fuck-ups may have been cut out, but it's still the greatest. the actual performance of each song is much more powerful and emotional than nirvana's.
  • Ledbetterman10
    Ledbetterman10 Posts: 16,991
    nirvana
    2000: Camden 1, 2003: Philly, State College, Camden 1, MSG 2, Hershey, 2004: Reading, 2005: Philly, 2006: Camden 1, 2, East Rutherford 1, 2007: Lollapalooza, 2008: Camden 1, Washington D.C., MSG 1, 2, 2009: Philly 1, 2, 3, 4, 2010: Bristol, MSG 2, 2011: PJ20 1, 2, 2012: Made In America, 2013: Brooklyn 2, Philly 2, 2014: Denver, 2015: Global Citizen Festival, 2016: Philly 2, Fenway 1, 2018: Fenway 1, 2, 2021: Sea. Hear. Now. 2022: Camden, 2024: Philly 2, 2025: Pittsburgh 1

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  • gleemonex
    gleemonex Posts: 848
    I like the Alice in Chains one better than Nirvana's, but I haven't seen videos of either, just the recorded albums.
    “Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — ‘God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’” - Kurt Vonnegut
  • bharQ
    bharQ Posts: 1,201
    i'd go with Alice In Chains.. but Nirvana is very close.. especially with such a cool and different setlist.
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  • off_the_record
    off_the_record Posts: 843
    pearl jam's is far from the best. nirvana's is better than aic's.
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  • SlowFade
    SlowFade Posts: 75
    nirvana's performance is the best. Really showcased kurt's writing ability. Plus the setlist is amazing.
  • Brisk.
    Brisk. Posts: 11,578
    SlowFade wrote:
    nirvana's performance is the best. Really showcased kurt's writing ability. Plus the setlist is amazing.

    most of them were covers..

    Jerry and layne piss all over Kurt.

    AIC and PJ totally own Nirvana. I dont get why everyone thinks they are with the top '''''grunge'''''' bands
  • parel jam
    parel jam Posts: 7,223
    Nirvana!
    ♪♫♪♫♫

    http://youtube.com/watch?v=U_-WGNRyRzU

    ♪♫♪♫♫
  • MLC2006
    MLC2006 Posts: 861
    I BrisK I wrote:
    most of them were covers..

    that is why AIC's was better, because they took a bunch of mostly heavy songs and made them sound good on acoustic. Nirvana was unable to do that so they got a setlist that was half cover songs.

    I think though that both were better than PJ's, and Eric Clapton's Unplugged was also great.
  • Todd76
    Todd76 Posts: 1,469
    NIRVANA :)

    Nirvana's unplugged was amazing - in a completely different league than any of the other Unpluggeds i've seen. It really showcased Kurts voice and songwriting (other than the cover tunes - obviously)....and showed how fragile these songs were underneath all the anger and noise on the albums.

    PJ's Unplugged didnt benefit at all from being "unplugged", the songs werent really enhanced in any way - they might as well have been plugged in. I still kinda liked the songs as they were performed, but not because they were unplugged. N0 doubt if they did a true acoustic Unplugged set now it would be alot better.

    My Top 10 Unplugged's

    1) Nirvana - hands down
    2) Neil Young
    3) Bjork
    4) Oasis
    5) the Cure
    6) REM
    7) Tori Amos
    8) Pearl Jam
    9) Hole
    10) Alice In Chains
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  • SlowFade
    SlowFade Posts: 75
    I BrisK I wrote:
    most of them were covers..

    Jerry and layne piss all over Kurt.

    AIC and PJ totally own Nirvana. I dont get why everyone thinks they are with the top '''''grunge'''''' bands


    pretty different cover choices though. Man who sold the world blows bowie's away, and kurt was always trying to expose kids to new music, hence the meat puppets mini-set, which did wonders for that band's record sales. I think alice in chains would not be able to do any decent covers, and therefore had to rely on thier own material.
  • SlowFade
    SlowFade Posts: 75
    MLC2006 wrote:
    that is why AIC's was better, because they took a bunch of mostly heavy songs and made them sound good on acoustic. Nirvana was unable to do that so they got a setlist that was half cover songs.

    I think though that both were better than PJ's, and Eric Clapton's Unplugged was also great.


    How do you know that nirvana never tried to do some of the heavier stuff acoustically? I think the songs fit the evening a lot more than if heart-shaped box(which could work well acoustic), in bloom, lithium, ect....were played.....btw, anyone notice how dave grohl plays the beat for sentless apprentice at one point? that would have been a strange song choice.....
  • ediger
    ediger Posts: 308
    I personally think the Alice In Chains unplugged kicks the crap out of every other one, including Pearl Jam
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  • IWishIWasASailor
    IWishIWasASailor Posts: 129
    AIC by a wide margin. Best band of the nineties, one of the best all time.

    An amazing track record.
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 11,175
    ediger wrote:
    I personally think the Alice In Chains unplugged kicks the crap out of every other one, including Pearl Jam

    I have to agree, even if layne was on another planet, it was an amazing show
  • evenflow82
    evenflow82 Posts: 3,892
    Alice in Chains, hands down.

    Soundgarden, PJ, Alice in Chains and Screaming Trees were all better bands than nirvana in my opinion.
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  • tonadax
    tonadax Posts: 594
    Aic and Nirv unplugged are way better than PJ one...

    best track selection...
    the non-hits selection by nirvana it´s priceless....
    the unhealthy layney singing down in the hole or nutshell it´s priceless....
    the cure and eric clapton unplugged are good ones too....
    and the deleo bros did a good perfomance on stp unplugged....

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