Having played both Denmark and Norway before as early as 1988, Fugazi added Sweden to their European tour itinerary in the fall of 1990, playing just two dates there, before traveling to Poland for a couple of shows (another first).

Their first show in Sweden played out in Gävle, which happens to be the very first Swedish city some 200 kilometers north of Stockholm I got to know a bit myself when visiting newly-made friends and band members of the phenomenal nineties hardcore punk band Serene a couple of years down the line.

Rewind to October 1, 1990, as some 60 people gathered at Café Q to see Fugazi play 17 songs live. No less than 9 songs off of the Repeater album made this set list, followed by 4 off of Steady Diet of Nothing (at the time still unreleased), and 2 songs each off of the Margin Walker EP and debut 7 Songs EP.

As mentioned, Fugazi played a second show the next day, in Linköping, another provincial city some 400 kilometers south of Gävle. About 110 people are reported to have attended at Rock Lamour where Fugazi played a slightly longer set of 20 songs, with 9 tracks taken off of Repeater (with the exception of Brendan #1, the album is actually played in its entirety between these two concerts), 5 off of Steady Diet, 4 off of Margin Walker and another 2 off of 7 Songs.

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What distinguishes these shows in Gävle and (even more so the one in) Linköping is the sheer joy that emanates from the stage. Actually, with the exception of the Richmond show in Virginia on October 7, 1987, I’d be hard pressed to recall another show where the band is clearly having so much fun as they did playing these two dates in Sweden.

Even though the Swedish audience appears still quite reticent with the exception of a couple of enthusiasts, the entire band continually tries to engage and tease its listeners with abundant banter and pleasantries, showing its appreciation for having a great time.

Case in point is the Latin Roots debut (”we’re gonna do a song we’ve never played before because we’re feeling so totally out of touch”). While the Steady Diet of Nothing album would not see its release until July 1991 and several of its future staples already had been played on a number of occasions and were shaping up nicely both musically and lyrically, the band clearly hadn’t figured out Latin Roots yet (“a song that’s not even really written yet”). Guy’s hallmark swirling opening guitar chords only cut in later here, and the band literally is open to suggestions on how to end the song. The lyrics are just three verses at this point, if that, and particularly striking is the different chorus towards the end of the song, as Ian appears to bellow “you greedy motherfucker” instead of “it’s time to meet you makers.”

Other highly enjoyable moments from the Gävle gig include Waiting Room (featuring a little singalong), Blueprint (“la-di-da, la-di-da-da”), the work in progress on Long Division (which features a bit of a bridge and different ending), or Reprovisional to close out the set.

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The Linköping gig showcases some nice additional guitar licks going into Sieve-Fisted Find, a fun rendering of Waiting Room dubbed the “cooking room” (”cooking in the kitchen room, [tell me why] because they like to cook, come on and cook out!”), a truly unique version of Burning Too sung in Swedish by someone attending the show that goes by the name of Johanna Rosenqvist, a dude calling out for the band to play Promises or Waiting Room after the band already played these songs and Guy urging for him to “get with it”, a cool performance of Two Beats Off and another crushing Reprovisional run, a round of fuck yous leading into Runaway Return (with impromptu matching chorus), or expressions of love leading into Long Division (”hey, hey”).

The only thing that might keep me from revisiting these recordings on a regular basis, is the sound quality. While the recording of the second night comes out on top and provides some more up front vocals, I find the overall mix on both recordings is still rather erratic and at times muddled, which chips away at the pleasure of listening.

However, this should not keep anyone from checking out such incredibly fun and cool shows, especially since these portray the band members as most humorous individuals and not as gloomy, dead serious, ascetic monks they are sometimes made out to be.