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It is Leeds, October 1990. 'A Little Time' by pop-rockers The Beautiful South is top of the charts, yet an altogether heavier band is gearing up to play at Leeds Polytechnic - now Leeds Beckett University.

Soon to be one of the most famous bands on the planet, Nirvana performed in front of a tumultuous Leeds crowd with their brand new drummer, a certain Dave Grohl.

On stage alongside Kurt Cobain, Krist Novoselic and Grohl that night was Antony Hodgkinson, better known in musical circles nowadays as 'Tony the Interpretive Dancer'. A drummer in rock band Bivouac, Tony met Nirvana while they were touring in the UK.

After hanging out with the band regularly when they were in the country, they dared Tony to dance on-stage in women's clothing at Nirvana's next show in Leeds.

Tony wasn't one to turn down a dare, so after managing to hitch a lift up to West Yorkshire, he made good on his promise.

If you search online now for any old footage of Nirvana playing in the UK, there is a decent chance you will see Tony the Interpretive Dancer doing his thing.

He first met the band in 1989, and their visit to West Yorkshire in 1990 was the first of many times Tony danced on-stage.

'I was like yeah why not, not much of a dare'

"A great old friend of mine set up a promotion agency, and brought quite a few bands over, and I used to do quite a bit of driving for him to and from the airports and stuff like that, picking bands up." he said.

"I ended up picking Nirvana up for the Lamefest tour in 1989 and then we all got on from there really. They came back in 1990 with Dave (Grohl), and then it all stemmed from there.

"They dared me to dance in ladies clothing, and I was like yeah why not, not much of a dare!"

What started as a dare soon turned into a regular occurrence when Nirvana were playing in the UK, and cemented Tony's spot in musical folklore.

Nirvana's heavy sound and punk spirit ensured that most of their shows had something of an edge to them, and Leeds was no exception - in footage from the show you can see Cobain physically pushing members of the crowd off the stage.

"It was a bit nerve-wracking, that show had a weird energy to it, you know, quite a lot of testosterone." Tony recalls.

"I nearly got dragged off the stage a couple of times, it was just a procession of stage-divers from what I remember.

"I don't know if Kurt got a bit lairy with people. You know, for a while stage divers are great, but when it's constant during the show it's a bit like f*** off, you know what I mean."

Tony reminisces that some of the punters in Leeds that evening gave him some stick for his dancing - not that he cared.

"I don't give a monkey's what you think, it's all about performance, dancing like an idiot, moving in whatever way you can.

"It's accessible for everyone - dance should be accessible for everyone as music should be."

Tony would go on to dance regularly with the band over the years, including Nirvana's blockbuster headline slot at Reading Festival in 1992.

The press had whipped up a frenzy prior to the gig around allegations of drug abuse by Cobain and his partner Courtney Love, yet Nirvana blew everyone away with a rip-roaring set.

'It was an astonishing show'

Cobain even found time to urge the crowd to chant "we love you Courtney" to show support for his much-maligned partner. The show has since gone down as one of the most iconic gigs the country has ever seen.

Despite playing a prominent part in a historical moment, the show holds more difficult memories for Tony.

"Oh yeah, it was an astonishing show." he remembers, somewhat wistfully.

"When they released it on DVD I was asked to do quite a few interviews for that and I didn't really want to watch it, because it was the last time I saw Kurt."

Sadly, the Reading Festival slot was the last time that Nirvana played in the UK - Cobain was found dead in his Seattle home in April 1994.

Nirvana wouldn't play in the UK again after Reading 92, though Tony has since gone back and watched the pulsating headline show in full.

"It was a proper punk rock show, wasn't it? Out of tune guitars, a bit ramshackle and quite chaotic - the energy was very full on.

"I can still remember now that Breed was one of the first songs, and it was just astonishing the energy that was coming from the audience - it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up."

You'd think that someone who regularly danced with music royalty would have supreme confidence in what they do, yet Tony reveals he isn't a huge fan of watching the old footage nowadays.

"Oh no," he says "I'm super critical of what I do.

"When I'm watching I'm thinking oh god, it's gonna look really f***** w*** this."

Tony has since seen Grohl a couple of times when the Foo Fighters have been touring the UK, and he still creates music himself from time to time - he was even in the studio the night before our chat helping to put together an album.

(Image: Ian West/PA Wire)

Nowadays though, most of his creative juices are used on video games - Tony works as a software tester.

He says: "I've always been into technology, I'm an old arcade gamer.

"Basically after Nirvana dissolved and I left Bivouc, I sort of distanced myself from the record industry and got myself what they call a proper job."

It may seem strange to turn your back on one of the most exciting industries in the world, yet when you've experienced what Tony has, what else is there left to do?

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