The hospital gown Kurt Cobain famously wore during Nirvanas headlining set at Reading Festival 1992 is currently up for auction via RR Auction. The gown is part of the Marvels of Modern Music Auction, which started March 7th and ends March 14th. Cobains hospital gown is estimated to be worth $50,000 or more.
Nirvanas 1992 set at the Reading Festival remains one of the bands most famous live performances, and it was released as a concert film and live album in 2009 after being a cherished bootleg for years. Cobain famously wore the hospital gown as a way to poke fun at rumors about his health. To complete the bit, Cobain not only had music journalist Everett True push him on stage in a wheelchair, but he opened the performance by warbling a few notes of Bette Midlers The Rose before pretending to collapse.
In the years since Cobains death in 1994, the gown has been in the possession of a fan, who said they received it from Courtney Love at a Seattle vigil following Cobains suicide. Late that evening, Courtney Love showed up accompanied by Kat Bjelland of Babes in Toyland with a bag of Kurts clothes, the fan recalled. She was visibly grief-stricken and proceeded to pass the clothes out while asking trivia about Kurts life She handed me his hospital gown from the legendary Reading Festival performance from 1992. She then cried on my shoulder for a while. I tried to say something reassuring about his love for her and she pushed me away, insisting that he only loved Frances The entire incident was sad. And weird. And it blew my teenage mind.
Along with Cobains hospital gown, the Marvels of Modern Music Auction also boasts items like Keith Moons annotated address book, an angry letter John Lennon wrote to Beatles producer George Martin and Princes customized VOX guitar from the 3RDEYEGIRL era.