The download includes an extra track - 'Fell, Destroyed Instrumental', between 'Public Witness Program' and 'Sweet and Low'.

The time is December 9, 1993, the place is Sammy’s in the city of Dunedin, “the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from Dùn Èideann, the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland” (source: Wikipedia).

According to local Dunedin government agencies (http://www.dunedin.govt.nz/)

“Sammy’s became an iconic venue for Dunedin music. It played an important role in Dunedin’s music scene from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, and to a lesser extent between 2011 and 2016.

It hosted Dunedin artists associated with labels like Flying Nun, Rational Records, Xpressway, Corpus Hermeticum, Arclife and Fishrider Records. It hosted numerous national and international music tours, as well as festivals and events.

Dunedin artists affiliated with the Flying Nun and Xpressway record labels such as The Clean, The Chills, The Verlaines, The Straitjacket Fits, Look Blue Go Purple, the 3Ds, Peter Jeffries, Alistair Galbraith and the Dead C. Sammy’s also hosted many national tours such as Headless Chickens, John Paul Satre Experience, Bailterspace, SPUD, Dave Dobbyn, The Exponents and Supergroove. International tours included Jimmy Barnes, The Violent Femmes, The Go-Betweens, Dr Feelgood, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Paul Kelly, The Pogues, Billy Bragg, Buffalo Tom, Superchunk, Faith No More, Pavement, Fugazi and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry.”

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At one point during the gig, Guy as much as acknowledges this remarkable bit of history, adding “I gotta tell you, it’s really quite something for us to be here because two years ago we managed to make it over here but we could only play in Auckland and we kind of asked this time if we could come down further South, particularly because so often, back home in my room I’ve listened to bands from this town and it’s certainly an honor to play here too, I must say.”

However, after having been ordered shut sometime in the summer of 2016 for a number of violations, Sammy’s was bought by the Dunedin City Council in February 2017 and has been “set to make a comeback with a new name” even though nothing much appears to have been forthcoming up until now.

The recording showcases a high gear, ardent Fugazi performance. After Joe #1 eases the listener into things, the next couple of songs come crashing, with powerhouse Instrument in an exceptionally early slot. It appears to tie in with the upbeat, good mood of the band.

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Case in point, for his opening remarks, Ian muses, “we feel like we could do anything today, because we drove to the top of Baldwin Street, so we’re feeling pretty fucking good right now, we’re ready to just kick the shit out of anything that gets near us […].” However, rapport does falter a bit later on in the set, as Ian calls someone out for throwing glass at the band.

This particular set list certainly caters to my personal taste and presents plenty of Fugazi staples, and while the vocals sound just a tad muted sometimes, the recording surely is one of my favorites from this leg of the 1993 tour.

Highlights include Instrument (the one-two punch breakdown is relentless), Reprovisional, Blueprint (the songs does not come as a surprise after Long Division, but sounds really good nevertheless), Returning The Screw, Shut the Door (note Joe’s loud, bone-rattling bass on the improv), Fell, Destroyed (instrumental rendering right after Public Witness Program), or Exit Only rather unusually closing out the set.

Latin Roots is dedicated to a young lady who wanted to come to the show “but she had a shift over at your Cadbury factory, you know, and apparently the Easter line is coming through and she’s spending this evening sorting, I think the bunnies from one belt to another.”

The set list is varied, and draws on the complete available Fugazi repertoire at that point in time, i.e. In on the Kill Taker (9), Steady Diet of Nothing (4), Repeater (5), 3 Songs 7″ (1), Margin Walker EP (2) and S/T debut EP (1), bringing the total up to 22 live tracks.