From March 1987 to March 1, 1994, Nirvana performed a variety of shows and concerts.
When Nirvana were interviewed at the Reading Festival in 1991 and asked what the biggest concert they had played before the Reading Festival in 1991 was, bassist Krist Novoselic said that it was supporting Sonic Youth in Los Angeles. This was the August 17, 1990 concert at the Hollywood Palladium which had a capacity of 4,400 people.
Nirvana's major label debut was their second album, Nevermind, which was released on DGC Records in September, 1991. On August 15, 1991, Nirvana played a concert at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California to showcase the band to the new record company. At the end of the concert fans were invited to appear as extras in the music video that they were filming on the following weekend for the album's first single, "Smells Like Teen Spirit". A notable concert on the Nevermind tour was at Rock City in Nottingham, England, which was filmed by a Japanese TV crew.
The first concert on Nirvana's tour for their third and final studio album, In Utero, was on October 18, 1993, at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix, Arizona. However, on September 25, 1993, the band had performed on television for Saturday Night Live at NBC Studios in New York City. This included a previous rehearsal performance in front of an audience which was the first live appearance of second guitarist Pat Smear in the band. At both the rehearsal performance and the televised performance for Saturday Night Live the band performed the album's first single, "Heart-Shaped Box", along with followup single, "Rape Me". In 1999, this version of "Rape Me" was released as the first track on the compilation album, Saturday Night Live: The Musical Performances Vol. 2. It was also released as a music video on MTV.
In mid-1994, Nirvana were scheduled to headline the Lollapalooza festival which was then a touring festival across the United States and Canada. However, the band pulled out from the tour because singer and lead guitarist, Kurt Cobain, felt that they would be selling out. He had reportedly been offered nearly $10 million to do it. On April 6, 1994, which was two days before Cobain was found dead, having committed suicide, Nirvana announced that they were pulling out of the tour because they were concerned for Cobain's health.