Teenager finds photos of first Nirvana gig tucked inside her dad's books

Photographs of Nirvana’s first ever show have been uncovered – and tweeted by a teenager who had no idea what she was showing to the world. Maggie Poukkula, 19, tweeted the photos last week, observing they were photos of “my dad and Kurt Cobain playing together back in the day”.

Her father, Tony Poukkula, put on the show in his basement in Raymond, Washington, in spring 1987. He had known Cobain since childhood, and joined Nirvana – Cobain, Krist Novoselic and drummer Aaron Burckhard – for covers of two Led Zeppelin songs.

“I had no idea that those were during Nirvana’s first concert,” Poukkula told Rolling Stone. “My dad showed me them a while back, but he never mentioned that’s what was going on in the photos. I found out because of all the articles. I didn’t realise it was such a historical thing. I thought they were just cool pictures of my dad and Kurt jamming together.” She had found the photos inside her father’s books about Cobain and Nirvana.

After she tweeted the pictures, they gradually spread across the web, going viral. Other Twitter users pointed out their significance to her: “These photos are from Nirvana’s first ever concert in March/April 1987. Do you have any more??” asked a user called Toolism One.

Poukkula’s reaction to the excitement was best captured in a tweet from Tuesday.