Aside from the fact that this is one of few shows that features Fugazi as an opening act, it is also one of few Fugazi shows played as a three-piece, with even Brendan actually sitting in “on loan” since he was still in Happy Go Licky at the time, a short-lived band featuring fellow Rites of Spring adepts Eddie Janney, Guy Picciotto and Mike Fellows. And even though Guy Picciotto would soon fully commit himself to Fugazi as well (see for instance the October 16, 1987 show in Washington, DC), it seems his fate has basically always been closely interlaced with this particular band. For instance, in the drawing that served as a promotional poster for this show, you can easily discern Guy, waiting on the other three band members (a reference he allegedly did not appreciate). Also, at some point during the concert, Ian refers to Guy in the audience and concedes that “we were gonna have a little diversion, we were gonna have Guy start a fight or something in case we started to fuck up on the songs, that way we’d be able to sort of cut the set short and like, look like we’re peacemakers”.
For anyone familiar with the Fugazi back catalogue, it is interesting to note how the band has grown artistically since this somewhat tentative first live performance. As promising, fresh, and innovative the three-piece might have already been in D.C. or anywhere else at the time, there were new challenges to be met as well, as Ian was picking up playing guitar and singing at the same time and Joe basically stepped into the musical limelight for the very first time. And listening to the subsequent live performances and studio albums the band released throughout the years, it is also clear that the addition of Guy not only proved to be an arguably logical but definitely pivotal development, adding a whole new dynamic both musically and lyrically and perfecting an already monumental line-up.
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Musically, this first show provides an interesting mélange, featuring Joe #1 (shortened version) and Song #1 (both songs were released in 1990 as part of the 3 Songs 7”); the song Furniture (officially released in 2001 as part of another 7” and CD single) during which Ian is confronted with what seems to be a broken guitar string, while Brendan and Joe continue to lay down the rhythm, until Ian cuts the ending of the song short; a pretty much on point version of the song Merchandise that was to be released as part of the Repeater album in 1990; a handful of songs that were dropped from the live repertoire by the end of 1989 (Turn Off Your Guns, a song “about life and about how much it is worth living”, purportedly recorded on the first demo, yet still unreleased officially; In Defense of Humans, released as part of the State of the Union: D.C. Benefit Compilation in 1989; The Word, a song recorded at the Margin Walker session and released through the 20 Years of Dischord box set in 2002, as part of the rare and unreleased songs); as well as a solid rendition of the (soon to be) crowd-pleaser Waiting Room, introduced by Ian as a song about “what the heck we could do if we did”, a song that arguably relates to the inception of the band Fugazi itself, the hopes its members held and the potential they envisioned.
So for any numbers of reasons, you could consider this live recording essential listening.

Transformative evening for this 17 year old boy

Wow, I remember this show. There was such a buzz in the city about Ian's new band and they were finally going to play. Myself, J.House (singer for the Sleestaks) and Alex Daniels (drummer for Swiz) made our own Fugazi t-shirts the next day- I think my mom still has it. Great times, great music- thanks Fugazi.

Dang, I remember going to this but showed up late due to band practice (the Visigoths) and missed Fugazi.