#FLS1991

[anothersievefistedfind]

Ticket stub courtesy of John Mulhouse

Fugazi, First Avenue, Minneapolis, MN USA 8/12/1991 (FLS #0379)

(Words below submitted by Antti Väärälä)

“I could really just write "get this, get this now" and nothing more. This tape is that good!

The band start off by bashing out a very punk rock instrumental of Facet Squared. Then it's onwards with a glorious flow of rockers and, with the great mix provided, you can just drown yourself in early, heavy Fugazi.

The mix is wide, clear, huge and warm. Every instrument has power and the vocals cut clearly through. And the drums...oh boy, you could really just concentrate on the details of Brendan's playing and admire his crazy chops. The drum set is panned beautifully in the stereo field and every element has it's space.

It's hard to even pinpoint highlights since the whole set here basically just gels so well together. There's a sweet showcase of yet to be released Last Chance For A Slow Dance that merges into a strong Promises. And I gotta mention Suggestion. The crowd sings along, the groove is perfect... and the performance is influenced by a certain show opener, which brings a whole another aspect to the performance. A soulful Give Me The Cure is another one of many highlights.

Turnover unfortunately has the intro cut probably due to a cassette flip.

What initially caught my eye about this show was the low number of interludes. And my hunch was right - there are no fights and almost zero time wasters. It's just a big Fugazi party all night long! There are many moments where you can hear the crowd sing along and it's just glorious.

The evening draws to a close with explosive encores, Repeater being the insane highlight. I can only imagine the amount of fun everyone was having. The cassette runs out and Waiting Room cuts off in the end which is a pity.

Like I said earlier... get this. Get this now.”

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Facet Squared Instrumental 3. Exit Only 4. Merchandise 5. Sieve-Fisted Find 6. Reclamation 7. Last Chance for a Slow Dance 8. Promises 9. Margin Walker 10. Suggestion 11. Give Me The Cure 12. Interlude 1 13. KYEO 14. Interlude 2 15. Turnover 16. Styrofoam 17. Interlude 3 18. Long Division 19. Runaway Return 20. Shut the Door 21. Encore 1 22. Two Beats Off 23. Repeater 24. Reprovisional 25. Encore 2 26. Burning Too 27. Waiting Room

[anothersievefistedfind]

Photo © by Photographer Unknown

Fugazi, Marquee, New York, NY USA 3/4/1991 (FLS #0313) & 3/5/1991 (FLS #0314)

In the course of March 1991, a couple of weeks after a short stretch of (five) regional (and memorable) shows in Washington D.C. particularly, Fugazi toured the East Coast of the United States for another 16 concerts, including these two consecutive sold-out shows at the Marquee in New York City.

There was a piece “Melodies Amid Rant, Thoughts Amid Rage” by Jon Pareles in the New York Times on March 7, 1991 about the first night at the Marquee:

“While Fugazi has moved beyond hardcore, hardcore fans still claim Fugazi. At the Marquee on Monday, within a largely collegiate audience, slam-dancers churned up the crowd and climbed on stage to dive back onto the dance floor. Mr. MacKaye, dourly addressing the audience as Gentlemen and individuals as Sir, admonished the dancers to ‘be considerate’ and ‘be a little bit more up-to-date.’ He was right: against Fugazi's taut, ascetic songs, the old hardcore flailing seems wanton and mismatched.”

The recording of this first night includes notable versions of Reclamation (Guy lashes out at someone at the beginning of the song, and Ian follows up on some antics during an extended intro), Waiting Room (which gets a good response), Shut The Door (Ian strikes some additional chords by way of alternate intro) or Promises (played in response to someone shouting for Ian to ”say something incisive”).

Fugazi played 20 songs on the first night, including 9 out of 11 Repeater tracks, no less than 7 songs off of the Steady Diet of Nothing album which would not see its release until a couple of months later (July 1991), and 2 songs off of the Margin Walker and 7 Songs EPs each.

As to the second night at the Marquee, it is worth mentioning that film maker and friend of the band Jem Cohen shot some incredible and really intense black and white footage on this occasion. The footage can be seen in his Instrument documentary, both during the Closed Captioned demo excerpt and consecutive “Joe’s playing live with Fugazi monologue” / Long Division instrumental (mins 27:30-29:06) as well as during Little Debbie (mins 42:20-43:56). The place appears lit, the band is going off while Guy demonstrates the art of non-resistance to confuse and overcome attention-seekers roaming the stage.

Suggestion into Give Me The Cure is my highlight here, as well as Glueman which is played in spite of Guy “kinda aching today” and gets sent out (appropriately) to the Cohen brothers in attendance, as well as to Guy’s brother Mike.

Stage banter inter alia touches on the band having just checked out Blood in the Face documentary which came out on February 21, 1991 and “offers an eye-opening look at neo-Nazism and its proponents in the United States” according to IMDb, and there is some mention of Sonic Youth as well, “you know, Sonic Youth just played down in Washington, and they said, ‘the New York-D.C. war was over and they had won cause they were playing the capital center’, they were opening for Neil Young you know, but hey, we’re playing the Marquee.” 

The set list of the second night is shorter with 17 songs, but a bit more varied. Repeater offers 7 songs, 4 tracks are taken off of (the upcoming) Steady Diet of Nothing, 4 off of the 7 Songs debut EP, and just 1 song off of the Margin Walker EP and 3 Songs 7 inch.

The sound quality of both recordings is just good in my opinion. The vocals come off a bit muffled, yet slightly less so on the recording of the second night.

The set lists:

March 4, 1991

1. Intro 2. Turnover 3. Interlude 1 4. Merchandise 5. Dear Justice Letter 6. Reclamation 7. Sieve-Fisted Find 8. Interlude 2 9. Styrofoam 10. Interlude 3 11. Two Beats Off 12. Interlude 4 13. Waiting Room 14. Margin Walker 15. Bad Mouth 16. Interlude 5 17. Exit Only 18. Long Division 19. Blueprint 20. Interlude 6 21. Repeater 22. Reprovisional 23. Encore 1 24. Shut the Door 25. Runaway Return 26. Interlude 7 27. KYEO 28. Latin Roots 29. Promises 30. Outro

March 5, 1991

1. Intro 2. Exit Only 3. Greed 4. Sieve-Fisted Find 5. Reclamation 6. Interlude 1 7. Dear Justice Letter 8. Shut the Door 9. Two Beats Off 10. Suggestion 11. Give Me The Cure 12. Interlude 2 13. Song #1 14. Interlude 3 15. Long Division 16. Blueprint 17. Interlude 4 18. Merchandise 19. Interlude 5 20. Repeater 21. Encore 22. Waiting Room 23. Burning Too 24. Glueman 25. Outro

[anothersievefistedfind]

Photos © by Tamaki Obuchi

Fugazi, Sun Hall, Osaka, Japan 11/14/1991 (FLS #0415)

(Words below submitted by Antti Väärälä)

“Now, here's a hard-nosed recording for sure. The band is close to the end of the tour and firing on all cylinders. This is the final date in Japan on their first tour of the country, and judged by the opening remarks it seems the band has had a very enjoyable stay there. 

Some crowd control with the help of a local translator ensues at first, but things seem to settle to a more peaceful level soon. Not that the playing would get mellow, quite the contrary in fact. The band rocks real hard song after song. 

The sound is pretty aggressive and there's a little distortion when things go to red during the loudest moments. Not too badly though. Overall this recording works better on a stereo for me, because with the headphones it feels very pushed. The guitars and vocals are prominent. Joe's bass tends to drown, which is a pity. The drums on the other hand sound really powerful. This is a soundboard recording of the totally-in-your-face kind. There's a touch of added reverb which adds a little air. 

Reclamation is as strong as it gets here. Another highlight is a bombastic Bad Mouth flowing into an attitude-filled Burning. 

Last Chance For A Slow Dance is coming along nicely and is closer to the album tempo here. Repeater is a total contrast to that peaceful moment exploding the roof off the place. Finally, Reprovisional turns to a huge, noisy jam to close the evening. 

This show practically flies by in flames with only a few breathers, and it's recommended especially for fans of the band's hardcore roots.”

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Steady Diet 3. Exit Only 4. And The Same 5. Sieve-Fisted Find 6. Reclamation 7. Interlude 1 8. Nice New Outfit 9. Merchandise 10. Margin Walker 11. Bad Mouth 12. Burning 13. Waiting Room 14. Interlude 2 15. Blueprint 16. Styrofoam 17. Two Beats Off 18. Shut the Door 19. Encore 20. Last Chance For A Slow Dance 21. Repeater 22. Reprovisional 23. Outro

[anothersievefistedfind]

Photo © by John Falls

Fugazi, University of Nebraska Centennial Ballroom, Lincoln, NE USA 9/14/1991 (FLS #0399)

Coming off of a six week summer/fall tour which had the band dashing across the US and Canada, Fugazi capped it off with a really cool show in Lincoln, Nebraska. A first for the band, having just played Omaha two times before in the Cornhusker State.

There is a nice flow to the set list and the performance is pretty much top-shelf overall, the band a well-oiled machine, having honed their craft through relentless touring - note that the 1991 Fugazi tour itinerary would include no less than 112 live performances.

Highlights here include stand-out versions of Sieve-Fisted Find, Two Beats Off (tagged with The Place I Love), Shut the Door to close out the main set and Reprovisional to close out the show (note the “I’ve been a long time leaving, I’ll be a long time gone” referencing here).

Worth mentioning as well is an early live rendering of Last Chance For A Slow Dance, a song that would not see its official release as part of the In on the Kill Taker album in 1993 but had been debuted live as early as the summer of 1991.

The recording does sound great and is a pleasure to listen to (never mind just a slight cut and missing a couple of seconds of guitar feedback at the beginning of Burning). Plus you get a good feel of the audience, particularly in between songs, and there is plenty of banter to liven things up. This includes calling out an “awfully large person” with a “little tooth protector thing” crushing people’s heads while stage diving, as well as Guy alluding to the “tradition of the dozens” in Washington D.C. “whereby anyone’s mother or father or son or daughter or sister or brothers is up for grabs, so, it’s kind of like this feeding the whole dysfunctional family kind of thing and courting a new community.”

It has been mentioned that Guy takes someone down to the stage at one point (to either pummel him or kiss him with his bloody lip) for hitting him in the teeth with the mic stand while stage diving. The audio recording does not allow to pinpoint such incident, but Guy does plead with people to “don’t be knocking the mic in [his] mouth and don’t be fucking these monitors please” because he’s had “a few too many teeth chipped to be amused by this.”  

Featured are 19 live songs total. The Repeater album is in heavy rotation (8), followed by Steady Diet of Nothing (5), Margin Walker EP (2) and 7 Songs EP (2), 3 Songs 7” (1) and In on the Kill Taker (1).

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Steady Diet 3. Styrofoam 4. Interlude 1 5. Latin Roots 6. Stacks 7. Sieve-Fisted Find 8. Reclamation 9. Interlude 2 10. Two Beats Off 11. Interlude 3 12. Merchandise 13. Interlude 4 14. Last Chance For A Slow Dance 15. Promises 16. Break-In 17. Burning Too 18. Burning 19. Waiting Room 20. Interlude 5 21. Blueprint 22. Interlude 6 23. Shut the Door 24. Encore 1 25. Exit Only 26. Repeater 27. Reprovisional 28. Outro

[anothersievefistedfind]

Photos © by Bob Conrad

Fugazi, Gilman Street, Berkeley, CA USA 9/01/91 (FLS #0390)

This recording documents the last out of 4 times Fugazi performed at the famed Gilman Street venue (1988, 1989, 1990, 1991), here a benefit gig for the Gilman Street Project. For some more information related to this particular venue, see my earlier notes and write-up of the 1988 concert.

The set notably opens with a rudimentary, instrumental rendering of Facet Squared. Similar versions of this track, which would not see an official studio release until 1993, have only been played live by the band on a handful of occasions. Other highlights and bangers include Runaway Return ("Bikini! Kill!"), Suggestion (which not only addresses the situation of women in the US but also the casualty toll of the first Iraq war that concluded - at least officially - a couple of months earlier), as well as an ominous-sounding version of Glueman that has Guy ad-libbing throughout (notice the cool intro "... looks good on you, bay area blue, area blue, bay area glue, area glue...") and is quite a bit of a departure from the traditional build-up and breakdown since it offers more of a continuous sonic downpour this time around.

Even though the band pretty much curbs all unnecessary banter in-between songs, and the upfront and in-your-face vocals and guitars obscure the indispensable rhythm section (Brendan's toms and snare drum, and Joe's bass) from time to time, mostly during the up-tempo parts, the recording still emanates enough punk attitude to make it memorable and enjoyable. Imagine the guitars deliciously grinding, cutting and slashing left and right, the vocals angry, fierce.

The show offers 15 live tracks in total, and draws from the 7 Songs debut EP (4), the Margin Walker EP (2), Repeater (2), the Steady Diet of Nothing album (6) which saw its release in the summer of that same year, and, as mentioned, one track from the upcoming In on the Kill Taker album.

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Facet Squared Instrumental 3. Exit Only 4. Merchandise 5. Interlude 1 6. Latin Roots 7. Reclamation 8. Interlude 2 9. Nice New Outfit 10. Long Division 11. Runaway Return 12. Waiting Room 13. Interlude 3 14. Margin Walker 15. Suggestion 16. Give Me The Cure 17. Interlude 4 18. Promises 19. Reprovisional 20. Encore 1 21. Glueman

[anothersievefistedfind]

Fugazi @ Desert Fest, Jawbone Canyon, Mojave Desert, CA - 9.6.91

Finally, nearly 30 years after the event, footage of this complete and memorable Fugazi set out in the Mojave desert in California has surfaced!

For some more backstory in relation to this show, see my earlier write-up and annotations.

[anothersievefistedfind]

Show flyer, courtesy of Kris Poulin

Fugazi, Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL USA 8/08/91 (FLS #0375)

On their strenuous, taxing 1991 tour (adding up to a total of 112 live performances), Fugazi hit the state of Illinois two times, the first gig taking place in Champaign on June, 6 and the second concert being this (one-off) appearance some two months later at the Vic Theatre in the city of Chicago. 

Quite the venue, as Guy and Ian lead their listeners to believe, “Let me tell you all a little bit about this building, the Vic Theatre was originally built in 1527, it’s a very old building, they used to build tall ships here, (…) where we’re standing right now is exactly, this is what used to be the hull-shaping area right here, and as you can see it’s a very tall building (…). John Dillinger was shot in the alley and performed his last performance here and was punched in the stomach and died (…). Charles Lindbergh landed here (…).”

Digging deeper, it appears these statements do not hold up entirely, even though there is in fact a whole lot of history behind this particular venue. According to its website, 

“The Vic Theatre, designed by architect John E.O. Pridmore, opened in 1912 as the Victoria Theatre. It took three years to build the luxurious five-story vaudeville house. The lobby floor and staircases are still Italian marble, and the interior still has most of the original ornate wall sculptures. The acoustics are near perfect, and the balcony has wonderful sight-lines.

(…) The Vic can easily accommodate 1400 people with seating for 1000.

When there’s no live music, hit the Brew & View. The Brew & View is the Vic’s alter ego, transforming the theater from music to movies. Three bars are open throughout the films, creating a cinematic experience miles away from the strip-mall multiplex. Movies at Brew & View tend to be second- and third-run, as well as cult and underground favorites. The lubricated crowd will often speak along with the dialogue or even dance (go see ‘Grease’ there). If you want to quietly concentrate on the movie, this is the wrong place. But if you want to see an old or new favorite for five bucks while drinking cheap beers, this is paradise.”

In a recent article, “Awesome & Awkward: The Evolution of The Vic Theatre”, author Janell Nunziato provides some more context, mentioning inter alia, that the theatre, despite having closed its doors on a number of occasions, “has been home to a variety of acts that continue to resonate within the walls”, including vaudeville (“a fancy French term that describes a genre of theatre that provided a variety of entertainment from the early 1880’s until the 1930’s”), an automobile repair shop, a porn movie theater, the Roberto Clemente Theater which featured Spanish-speaking movies and, more recently, musical performances by The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dave Matthews Band, No Doubt, David Bowie, Green Day, Pearl Jam, The Beastie Boys, Bob Dylan, and Rage Against The Machine, to name a few.

As to John Dillinger, well, he appears to have been killed in a shootout with the police on the evening of July 22, 1934, as he left another theatre in Chicago, namely the Biograph Theater, with two female companions, following a screening of Manhattan Melodrama. American aviator Charles Lindbergh’s link to the city of Chicago appears to include having pioneered and operated the Robertson Aircraft Corporation airmail service route from St. Louis to Chicago. 

Now for the live Fugazi recording presented here. The trouble, so to speak, is that this performance is off to a rather frustrating start, due to the issue of crowd-surfing and some security personnel with a temper. Several altercations arise, with both Guy and Ian addressing these situations, interrupting a number of songs in the process (cf. Merchandise, Dear Justice Letter, KYEO).

On August 9, 1991, the day following the concert, music critic Greg Kot, in an article “Fugazi Making Punk Rock Relevant To Today`s Crowd” published in the Chicago Tribune, appropriately notes,

“Fugazi is the underground band of the moment because it not only has dug back to the essence of punk but has made it relevant.

For this quartet, the relationship between the band and its audience isn’t a commercial one but a sacred trust. Which is why the band demands that ticket prices be kept to the bare minimum (admission to the Vic show was $5.25, a throwback to mid-’70s levels).

Only one other thing matters: the music. Which is why Fugazi dispenses with light shows and stage props.

Such single-mindedness has struck a chord with young listeners, as demonstrated by a Vic crowd that was foaming at the mouth by the time Fugazi took the stage after two opening acts, Pegboy and Nation of Ulysses.

Singer-guitarist Ian MacKaye urged, ‘Take care of each other’ before ripping into the opening song. But the pumped-up crowd was soon swirling, slamming and stage-diving so frenetically that the band was forced to stop playing several times to cool off confrontations between zealous stage-divers and security guards.

‘We’re not your (expletive) soundtrack so you can get into fights,’ guitarist Guy Picciotto said in dousing one disturbance.

The band’s persistent peace-keeping paid off, and the sheer force of its music eventually rechanneled the room’s energy.”

Another reason this recording fails to grab my immediate attention is because the guitars are rather low in the mix, Ian’s vocals slightly distant and the bass a low rumbling difficult to discern, especially during the noisier, up-tempo parts.

Two Beats Off, double-tagged with Summertime (Fitzgerald) / The Place I love (The Jam) lines, is the song that really lights the show up for me personally and comes off better sonically, probably due to its slower pace and intricate rhythmic shifts.

A number of early live staples follow suit and these sound quite good and engaging as well (Song #1 through Waiting Room), maybe because there’s just one guitar in the mix at this point, which makes it easier to discern.

The recording has been documented on cassette originally and it appears that the tape was turned a couple of seconds into Shut the Door, causing a slight drop-out. However, I feel the audio improves slightly but significantly once the song cuts back in, sounding more balanced overall.

As such, this rendering of the powerhouse song is remarkable. The paired guitar play is outstanding while Brendan and Joe lay down the groundwork. Momentum gradually yet steadily builds, the music once surges then folds, surges then folds.. .

From the recording, it is clear that someone puts in numerous pleas for the band to play In Defense of Humans (the last recorded live version of the song dates as far back as May 12, 1990), but these are not granted.

Nevertheless, Shut the Door merges seamlessly into Exit Only and from here on out the rest of the recording, performance and set list are top-shelf and highly enjoyable in my book. Note that Turnover is served unusually late yet no less impressive this time around, and that KYEO includes one last lull during which Guy and Ian taunt a number of hardheaded crowd surfers.

To conclude, it can be mentioned that the set presents a total of 18 songs. It draws 5 songs from the Steady Diet of Nothing album, 8 off of Repeater, 1 from the 3 Songs 7 inch, 1 from the Margin Walker EP and another 3 off of the 7 Songs or self-titled debut EP.

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Reclamation 3. Sieve-Fisted Find 4. Merchandise 5. Dear Justice Letter 6. Interlude 1 7. Styrofoam 8. Two Beats Off 9. Song #1 10. Margin Walker 11. Bad Mouth 12. Give Me The Cure 13. Waiting Room 14. Shut the Door 15. Exit Only 16. Long Division 17. Blueprint 18. Encore 1 19. Turnover 20. KYEO 21. Reprovisional 22. Outro

[anothersievefistedfind]

Fugazi, Sacred Heart Church Hall, Washington, DC USA 2/15/91 (FLS #0309)

As noted earlier, Fugazi played the Sacred Heart Church Hall in D.C. four times over the years, with three of these occasions taking place in 1991. This is the first of these recordings, a concert put together by Positive Force following the collapse of the Latino Investment Corporation - “a ‘bank��, kind of, that was set up for El Salvadoran immigrants and El Salvadoran people” - in an attempt to benefit the needs of “a lot of people who were working and saving up their money to send home to their families who put their money into this Latino Investment Corporation, as it turned out it wasn’t really a bank, and it wasn’t really insured, it wasn’t anything, and one day it was gone, and so was all their money.” 

And as if this wasn’t enough of a predicament, these events happened “right before Christmas, the same week a huge apartment building on Columbia road which is just down the street which also happens to be the home of a lot of the people who had their money in that bank was evicted by the D.C. government because the landlord who was running the place didn’t seem to think that it was important enough to keep fit for humans to live in.”

By now, Fugazi drew a steady, abundant and enthusiastic following, especially for such hometown gigs. This recording reflects these dynamics as participants sing along at the top of their lungs, crowding the venue floor and stage, swaying, jumping and dancing the night away (see video insert below).

As such, this performance is passionate in my book. Never mind the band is out of tune occassionally, missing a chord or beat here and there, as it portrays and adds to the authenticity of the experience and the emotional outbursts of the moment.

A suitable and fierce rendering of Greed early on sets the pace. After a short yet entertaining respite during which Ian addresses the issue of a couple of lost shoes, Guy adds a new intro to Two Beats Off, taken from the Jam’s The Place That I Love, inviting his listeners to “take a stand against the world.”

Merchandise follows suit and is introduced as a song “about the real power, the real control that each of us possess.” Sieve-Fisted Find ups the ante some more, especially since Guy significantly alters the lyrics to the driving staple, adding lines to his heart’s content, including “I said it was true, I fuck like Marilyn Monroe”, a returning yet no less cryptic feat.

A stretch of debut album classics then really lights the gig up mid-set as the band bursts through Burning, Bad Mouth and another memorable rendering of Suggestion (with Amy Pickering from Fire Party on guest vocals), before delivering great sounding versions of Long Division into Blueprint to boot.

While striking up his signature opening chords, Ian then introduces KYEO by adding, “this next song is dedicated to the situation that we all face, as you may or may not have noticed, there is a war in the Middle East, as you may or may not have noticed, there is a war in this country too.”

A thunderous, steamrolling version of Reprovisional is served up as a most suitable finale. The set climaxes with an ominous feedback jam, while Ian staunchly intones, “they flew one thousand sorties today” over and over, a reference to the merciless US bombardment of Iraq at the time, before concluding with a piercing scream as the instrumentation abruptly cuts off.

The audio quality of the recording is most definitely engaging overall, although the lower frequencies dominate most of the performance and Joe’s bass occasionally sounds muddled, causing a rumbling.

The recording includes a total of 18 songs. Most of these, 8 songs, would be officially released through the Steady Diet of Nothing album later that year. The set further presents 7 songs taken off of the Repeater album, as well as (the aforementioned) 3 songs from the debut 7 Songs EP.

Even though footage of the gig in its entirety is rumored to exist, I have not been able to find it thus far. Footage of a number of separate songs is readily available through YouTube however, as is the video below which picks up around interlude 3, right before Stacks.

The set list:

1. Opening Remarks 2. Dear Justice Letter 3. Greed 4. Interlude 1 5. Two Beats Off 6. Merchandise 7. Interlude 2 8. Latin Roots 9. Interlude 3 10. Stacks 11. Sieve-Fisted Find 12. Reclamation 13. Interlude 4 14. Burning 15. Bad Mouth 16. Suggestion 17. Long Division 18. Blueprint 19. KYEO 20. Encore 21. Runaway Return 22. Exit Only 23. Repeater 24. Reprovisional 25. Outro

[anothersievefistedfind]

Fugazi, Lafayette Park, Washington, DC USA 1/12/91 (FLS #0308)

On January 12, 1991, exactly 25 years ago today, Fugazi took the stage at Lafayette Park, right in front of the White House, an inconceivable move nowadays, to deliver a relatively short set as part of a Gulf War and Punk Percussion protest.

In their book, “Dance of Days: Two Decades of Punk in the Nation’s Capital”, authors Mark Andersen [of Positive Force D.C., who can be seen in the footage above, dressed in a navy blue jacket, wearing glasses and leaning against the speakers on Guy’s side of the stage] and Mark Jenkins describe the circumstances leading up to the scene on this day, 

“The day before the event, a heavy snowstorm hit the city. The next day, temperatures nudged into the 40s and the snow melted, but is was cold and rainy. With the country preparing for war, police blanketed the White House area. Despite the weather, around 3000 people showed up, including rarely seen old allies like Squip [Ed. Tomas Squip aka Onam Emmet of Beefeater and Fidelity Jones]. As the protesters beat on oil barrels, drums, tin cans, and kettles, the organizers wondered what to do about the show [Ed. Listening closely to the recorded document which is available through Discord, you can pick up the sounds of the percussion protest in full swing right off the bat]. Playing on an unprotected stage in the rain could expose musicians and crew to potential electrocution. At one point the rain stopped, only to begin again just as the band was ready to go. Organizers and musicians huddled on the stage, trying to decide what to do. Finally, feeling the gravity of the political moment, MacKaye said simply, ‘Let’s fucking do it!’ All available hands scrambled to uncover the gear and prepare for the chancy performance.”

In a recent article, “Positive Force: the film that remembers when punk took on the White House”, author Stacey Anderson elaborates,

“Of the hundreds of raucous punk protest concerts organized by Positive Force, the enduring Washington DC youth activist collective, only one gave President George HW Bush insomnia and Fugazi near-frostbite. Called the Punk Percussion Protest and War On Poverty Not In the Middle East, the now-infamous demonstration was staged directly in front of the White House on 12 January 1991. Long planned as a multi-artist rally that would draw attention to homelessness in America, the event took a hairpin turn as Operation Desert Storm grew imminent.”

Furthermore, the author quotes Ian, recollecting: “The timing of this was unbelievable. Suddenly, they’d set a date to bomb Iraq, and the date we had the permit for the park was a couple of days before it. (…) Not only was it cold, but it was raining and snowing. It was a miserable day, and yet thousands of people came out. It was a pretty incredible show.”

As a result, Stacey Anderson continues, the protest gig 

“reached its intended ears, as well – Bush’s reported complaint about the demonstration – ‘Those damned drums are keeping me up all night’ – made national newspapers.”

Interestingly, author Brock Ruggles offers some more context in a dissertation, “Not So Quiet on the Western Front: Punk Politics During the Conservative Ascendancy in the United States, 1980–2000″, 

“the event combined protest against the impending Operation Desert Storm with support of Washington, D.C.’s homeless population. Fugazi explicitly connected extravagant military expenditures abroad with the nation’s domestic problems. The band took the stage, over which a large banner read, ‘There Will Be 2 Wars,’ and MacKaye announced, ‘It’s inconceivable to me… that with billions of dollars that are being spent in the Middle East that we can’t spend more for the people who are dying in the streets here! As this country begins to fold up on itself economically, we throw ourselves into yet another war to divert people’s attention from the problems here in America’ [Ed. Kinky Sex Makes the World Go ‘Round, by the Dead Kennedys spontaneously comes to mind]. As steam rose up from the 3,000 people in the crowd moving in unison with the music, police ringed the perimeter and sharpshooters watched from atop the White House. The show went off without incident, the January 15, 1991 deadline President Bush had given Saddam Hussein to withdraw from Kuwait came and went, and U.S. bombs begin falling on Bagdad” [Ed. On a side note, nothing much seems to have changed, as bombs have been falling in the region repeatedly ever since, and are still falling today, as “democracy” is being delivered in Iraq, Afghanistan, or Syria].

Considering the nature and purpose of the events that went down on this particular day in (D.C.) history, it doesn’t really come out of left field that the set list is fairly short, offering a mere 12 live tracks to drive the discontent of band and participants home.

Out of these, 4 well-selected songs to suit the purpose of the occasion are taken from the (then upcoming) Steady Diet of Nothing album, 6 off of Repeater, with another 2 songs from the Margin Walker EP thrown in for good measure.

In this regard, not only And The Same or KYEO are expressly related to the issues at hand, but a number of subtle, tailored lyrical variations can be mentioned as well. For instance, during Long Division, Ian adds that “if George Bush wants one America, he’d better get out of the business of oil and war.” Also, Guy not only adds the Summertime [appropriately dubbed Wintertime for the occasion] tag to Two Beats Off, but a line as well, urging participants to “take it out into the streets.”

And then of course there’s a highlight rendering of the staple Repeater. Or, as Mark Andersen and Mark Jenkins note,

“MacKaye prefaced [Repeater] with a comparison to DC’s own war and the wish that while ‘we seem to have become accustomed to the hundreds that have died here, I hope we can never become accustomed to the tens of thousands that might die in the Middle East.’ The crowd joined MacKaye in counting off the chorus’ ‘1, 2, 3.’ The song’s desperate screech led to a lonely exhortation to ‘keep count.’ As MacKaye methodically recited ‘10,000… 20,000… 30,000… 40,000… 50,000… 60,000… 70,000… 80,000… 90,000…’ - the potential body count in the adventure about to erupt - the song rose to its painful climax.”

While this particular Fugazi performance undoubtedly can be considered memorable in itself in the light of the events and circumstances at the time, and as such most definitely merits attention and repeated listening, it should be noted that the sound quality of the recording, while still viable and even enjoyable, is not the best since the guitars and bass are rather low in the mix (especially the more up-tempo parts) while the overall audio appears somewhat harsh or tinny, and high on treble.

To conclude, it can be mentioned that the Fugazi documentary Instrument, by Jem Cohen, features a Blueprint excerpt from this particular gig, as well as footage (included above) of the Turnover performance. With an astonishing 2 million + YouTube views, this clip is virtually as iconic as the Waiting Room footage shot some two weeks earlier at the December 29, 1988 homecoming show at the Wilson Center in D.C.

(Different) footage of the complete Gulf War Protest gig is also available through YouTube, as well as singular footage of the Merchandise track.

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Brendan #1 3. Merchandise 4. Reclamation 5. Interlude 1 6. Turnover 7. And The Same 8. Interlude 2 9. Dear Justice Letter 10. Interlude 3 11. KYEO 12. Long Division 13. Blueprint 14. Remarks 15. Two Beats Off 16. Repeater 17. Interlude 4 18. Burning Too 19. Outro [remarks by Mark Andersen of Positive Force D.C.]

[anothersievefistedfind]

Fugazi, Silver Dollar Club, Phoenix, AZ USA 9/09/91 (FLS #0396)

Three days after playing a memorable gig at Desert Fest in the Mojave desert in California and following their first appearance at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, Fugazi played a one-off concert in the state of Arizona, at the Silver Dollar Club in downtown Phoenix which reportedly has been torn down in 1993.

And as it turns out, this proved to be another unforgettable experience, maybe not so much in terms of performance (which overall is very dependable) as in terms of the events that went down. According to the FLS website side-notes, “[e]pic show. Played in warehouse courtyard with police helicopters overhead. The improvised barricade (a chain-link fence) collapses and has to be passed hand over hand by the crowd to the back. Plenty of headaches with violent concert attendees, plus Ian falls through the stage!”

Eric J. Astor, one of the event organizers, adds, “the stage was from the last led zeppelin US tour. Ian jumped around until he found the soft spot in the wood and fell through up to his waist. We expected 700-800 people. Close to 1200 people paid. We didn't let skinheads into this show. They climbed on the roof of the club to try and get in. Helicopter crews with spotlights helped the cops on the street get them down. It took us all a LONG time to count all the $5 bills at the end, most crumpled up and in random bags. A crazy fucking night.”

Note that the mix of the recording doesn’t really settle until Sieve-Fisted Find. As a result, the guitars, Guy’s guitar especially, and bass are rather difficult to discern during the first couple of songs. Once everything balances out, it sounds pretty good.

The chain-link fence goes down and subsequently is removed early on in the set, 1 minute and 46 seconds into Steady Diet, after which Blueprint gets things back in full swing.

About 1 minute and 16 seconds into Burning Too, Ian suddenly stops playing and the song continues without guitar for a bit, the dual vocals merely driven by drums and bass. After the song, Ian clarifies, “that’s what happens when you fall through a stage, that’s an incredible first, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve never fallen through a stage before and you were all here to see it”. Guy tongue-in-cheek adds, “you in the back might not be able to notice but there is a gaping hole in the stage, whoever provided this stage can expect to hear from our lawyers.”

To add to the fun and merriment, Guy includes some more tour stories, “you know, the situation with the helicopter reminds me, we’ve been touring across America for the last month and a half, and the police have been casing our shows, like before we get to town we find out that our show is cancelled because the police are a little worried that too many youth will be assembled in one area, so, in Eugene, Oregon, believe it or not, they had a community meeting featuring local rabbis, community leaders, priests, concerned parents, and they cancelled our show, in San Diego they cancelled our show, so I guess there must be some kind of power involved in young people assembling.”

Even more chatter ensues, related to the Grand Canyon and a number of other things. It is also worth noting that the rendering of Suggestion is drawn out and includes a lengthy altercation between Ian, Guy and some knuckleheads in the audience. There is still more trouble to come, as Ian interrupts the set closer Glueman around 3 and a half minutes into the song so an injured person can get evacuated from the melee. Unfortunately, the song then looses momentum and shortly dwindles to a halt after Guy appears to vent some frustration, saying “hey, fuck this.”

The set features 16 songs. The Repeater album provides 5 tracks, while 4 songs are taken from the 7 Songs and Margin Walker EPs each, and 3 from the Steady Diet of Nothing album.

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Steady Diet 3. Blueprint 4. Styrofoam 5. Sieve-Fisted Find 6. Interlude 1 7. And The Same 8. Turnover 9. Reclamation 10. Interlude 2 11. Margin Walker 12. Burning Too 13. Interlude 3 14. Waiting Room 15. Give Me The Cure 16. Interlude 4 17. KYEO 18. Two Beats Off 19. Interlude 5 20. Promises 21. Encore 22. Suggestion 23. Glueman 24. Outro

[anothersievefistedfind]

Fugazi, Fort Reno, Washington, DC USA 7/29/91 (FLS #0369)

Photos © by Chris Tolliver

Since their first appearance at the Fort Reno premises in the summer of 1988, Fugazi would return here every summer, with the exception of 1990, 1992 and 1995, until their indefinite hiatus in 2003. Hence, this 1991 recording is the third out of these performances which have been preserved and documented for posterity with the exception of the 1989 gig.

Ian’s vocals are slightly distant in the mix and the drums miss some depth or texture, coming off rather sharp (notably the cymbals). Also, there is a bit of a hiss during the quieter parts, as well as the occasional trace of background music which might be due to some PA spill-over. Still, if anything, I feel these issues do not diminish the highly enjoyable nature of the recording and performance.

Overall, there are few incidents or banter to be noted and the band vigorously rips through most of the night, perhaps because of an incoming thunderstorm, a recurrent phenomenon spoiling a number of Fort Reno concerts over the years.

Ian does share some personal comments and history related to the Fort Reno premises, as well as the plans of the park services at the time to reallocate the headquarters of the people behind the Fort Reno concert series.

This set includes a total of 16 songs, with 6 tracks taken from Repeater, 4 from the original 7 Songs EP, 3 from the Margin Walker EP, 2 songs from Steady Diet of Nothing, and 1 track from the 3 Songs 7 inch.

Out of these, I most enjoyed Blueprint, “a song about how teenagers should be paid about 5,50 to xerox your faces, hang out and listen to tapes, form bands and fuck around all summer”, Two Beats Off which provides ample opportunity for Guy to ad-lib his way through the lyrics, Burning and a nasty version of Glueman, a most suitable harbinger as the forces of nature slowly converged and were about to unleash and come down on Washington D.C.

The set list:

1. Intro 2. Steady Diet 3. Sieve-Fisted Find 4. Greed 5. Interlude 1 6. Give Me The Cure 7. Song #1 8. Margin Walker 9. Bad Mouth 10. Interlude 2 11. Blueprint 12. Styrofoam 13. Two Beats Off 14. Merchandise 15. Exit Only 16. Promises 17. Encore 18. Burning 19. Burning Too 20. Glueman 21. Outro

[anothersievefistedfind]

Fugazi, St. Louis, MO USA 6/04/91 (FLS #0357)

Ever since I caught a glimpse of the set list, I have been eagerly looking forward to listening to this bootleg, which captures the third out of seven times Fugazi would hit the city of St. Louis in the state of Missouri over the years.

First off, let me get out of the way that the quality of the recording is not the best. The lower end of the sound spectrum dominates here, the music and vocals especially lose quite a bit of directness because of an echo, and the audience sounds notably distant.

Still, many people - including myself - would have jumped at getting their hands on a recording of this quality before these Fugazi Live Series saw the light of day, but of course the daunting amount of recordings made available now offers a framework to put everything in perspective.

However, there are more interesting things to highlight. First and foremost, this show opens with Glueman. Note that this song, if played at all, usually appears much later in the set, often to close out the gig, bringing the house down.

Listening to this great song as a set opener, although maybe not the best choice given the sonic and emotional catharsis it builds up to and brings about, is quite remarkable and special. Also, it merges perfectly and naturally with Exit Only here.

After Styrofoam, Ian welcomes the audience to "the wonderful Mississippi Nights", a venerable all ages venue which appears to have closed its doors in January 2007, on this "balmy June evening", after which Guy tongue-in-cheek introduces Sieve-Fisted Find as a song "about his life on the riverboat."

The set list not only includes the live staple Glueman, but also showcases a number of other powerhouse songs such as Shut the Door, Promises and Reprovisional; songs that are often heavily improvised on during live shows (much like Suggestion, which unfortunately is missing here), which works very uplifting and flavours the unique experience, as is the case here.

Before launching into Give Me The Cure, Guy appropriately confides that the band comes "to St. Louis every single year, we walk over to the [Gateway] Arch, we get into those little eggs, we go to the top, and every year I go, ‘Man, this thing is impossibly stupid big, this is kinda stupid’, you gotta, you know, it seems like states and governments and cities are always willing to spend enormous amounts of fucking green on big fucking arches, and, coming up we got this tremendously uncool giant march on Washington where we make the troops feel good about having killed a hundred thousand people overseas, and we’ll blow a lot of money on that too, every now and then I kinda have this fantasy where some of the money goes to where it might be needed, like, I dunno, some kind of crazy bullshit like aids research."

Waiting Room is dedicated to "the patient motherfuckers waiting out front since 5 in the morning" to get to see Fugazi play.

During and after Long Division, Ian engages in a bit of a discussion with what appears to be a number of troublesome characters in the audience, adding it’s "a song about all the people who really feel like that what we play is not hard enough for them, so fellows, I’ll miss you, I really will miss you because you guys are so incredibly fucking tough and we need more tough people in the world, lord knows this world is an incredibly peaceful and wonderful place and there’s just not enough people out there being tough and badass and all that shit, it really is incredibly boring you know, I mean if somebody doesn’t get another war going pretty soon I think I’m gonna have to hang myself or start my own."

Ian then strikes up the opening chords to Blueprint which serves to further taunt the tough guys, as Guy and Ian tailor the lyrics to their troublesome clientele by repeatedly crooning "cream puff sissy." Combined with the familiar "I'm not playing with you" catch phrase, this seems to cater to the occasion quite well.

Reprovisional, another song taken from the Repeater album, which provides for most songs on this particular night with the other albums thrown in more or less equally for good measure, turns out to be a worthy climax of choice.

The set list:

1. Glueman 2. Exit Only 3. Styrofoam 4. Interlude 1 5. Sieve-Fisted Find 6. Shut the Door 7. Margin Walker 8. Bad Mouth 9. Interlude 2 10. Give Me The Cure 11. Waiting Room 12. Interlude 3 13. Long Division 14. Blueprint 15. Promises 16. Encore 1 17. Two Beats Off 18. Reclamation 19. Reprovisional 20. Outro