Some fans didn’t have to travel very far — they were from Seattle. Others, from Portland, traveled a bit farther. Two flew in from Dublin.
All came to Viretta Park in Seattle for the same reason: to honor Kurt Cobain on the 30th anniversary of his death.
Cobain, the lead vocalist, primary songwriter and guitarist for grunge rock band Nirvana, died by suicide at the age of 27 in 1994.
Jared Sparks from Portland wore a black and red sweater he bought from a thrift store. He said they were colors Cobain liked and Cobain liked to shop at thrift stores. Sparks was planning to leave the sweater behind on a bench for the rock star.
Louise Johnston, from Belfast, Northern Ireland, went to a Nirvana concert there in 1992. A lifelong fan of the band, Johnston was sharing her fandom Friday with her daughter, whom she brought with her from Northern Ireland. The park is adjacent to the home where Cobain lived with his wife, Courtney Love, and their daughter, Frances Bean Cobain.
Johnny Arnoux and his brother Martin Spotted Bear also visited the park, where a bench is covered with flowers, candles and notes in honor of Cobain. Arnoux said that he and others who grew up in difficult circumstances could relate to the angst in Nirvana’s music. Arnoux, a member of the Crow tribe and Blackfoot Confederacy, feels like Nirvana has special significance to him and other Native Americans.
He attended the memorial for Cobain at Seattle Center in 1994 when he was 13. “Cobain’s music is like a letter from a total stranger telling you that everything was going to be all right.”