Ten Secrets from Hannover

Nirvana is not located in Herrenhausen, but has performed there

For over 40 years, the swimming pool located on what is now Westschnellweg near the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen served as the training pool for the Hannoversche Swimming Club of 1892. In the 1980s, the outdoor pool in the Leinemasch was transformed into the alternative club and concert venue “Musiktheater Bad.” Today, the facility looks abandoned and weathered, and there is no longer any sign that future world stars once performed on the open-air stage.

Diving tower with the Bad lettering — Nina Hagen, Helge Schneider, Sido and Nirvana have all performed here.

Nirvana Makes Music History in Hanover

In 1938, the Hannoversche Schwimmverein von 1892 e.V. opened its own swimming pool, complete with a clubhouse, across from the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen. In 1980, Hannover’s oldest swimming club closed the outdoor pool and began using the Stadionbad at Maschsee and the Fössebad for training and competitions, as well as the Volksbad in the Limmer district of Hannover during the summer, while the former HSV swimming pool was converted into the “Musiktheater Bad2”—sometimes drawing large crowds and at other times incredibly few guests.

Fans of electro, punk and wave music flocked to the club parties on the open-air site, while the gigs by comedian Helge Schneider in front of just seven spectators and the legendary performance by the US grunge band founded in 1987 Nirvana with only around 100 fans. "Tired, irritable, and annoyed were the three long-haired Americans who took the stage at the Musiktheater Bad in 1989. Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic, and Nirvana’s drummer at the time, Chad Channing, had already been touring Europe for nearly two weeks to promote their debut album, *Bleach*. But since their record label had set a very tight budget for the tour, the musicians had to travel between venues in a rickety Fiat minibus with nine people on board (the opening act was, of course, along for the ride). So during their visit to Herrenhausen, the young men were still a long way from the rockstar lifestyle that the pioneers of grunge would lead two years later. Their performance at the Musiktheater reflected this. They muddled their way through their songs, more poorly than well. The band even had to cut the song “Mr. Moustache” short because Cobain got tangled up on his guitar and couldn’t recover. After 50 minutes, it was over—and yet the concert is still considered a defining moment in the history of Hanover’s rock music.." (Source: Neue Presse from June 28, 2011).

Rock concerts and techno parties at the poolside

Later, the German "Godmother of Punk" Nina Hagen, the controversial Berlin rapper Sido, the rock band Rammstein, the Bloodhound Gang and Tito & Tarantula from the U.S., and Fury in the Slaughterhouse from Hanover also performed at the Musiktheater Bad. And last but certainly not least, the techno parties with Sven Väth. However, the last major music event, “Apollo’s Park,” featuring the world-famous DJ in August 2010, was not permitted to take place at the former HSV outdoor pool due to “failure to meet fire safety, structural stability, and noise protection requirements” and was promptly moved to the “Funpark” mega-disco in Hanover. Since then, calm has returned to the now overgrown and weathered open-air grounds of the Musiktheater Bad, which has been operated since December 2001 by the non-profit association Kultur-Pool e.V. as a “cultural meeting center and multicultural event venue.” Since 2011, the former outdoor pool has been closed to events for safety reasons. Inside, however, events were still held regularly at least until the end of 2019; after that, there were only sporadic announcements.