Between April 5 and April 21, 2001, Fugazi embarked on their “Four Corners” tour of the United States to kick off the 2001 tour itinerary with 15 shows in as many as 10 states (Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Indiana and Pennsylvania), their longest string of shows in 2001 and about half of their total amount of gigs that year (32 shows).

This show is the only one in the state of Wyoming in 2001, a state Fugazi played only twice in the course of their career, with both performances taking place in Laramie, the first one at the University of Wyoming Ballroom, on May 19, 1993 and this one right here, on April 16, 2001 at the Cowboy Bar (yes, you are reading it correctly), surely another notable choice of venue in the live history of the band.

The recording starts off with Ian addressing the audience. He appears to be in a great and chatty mood as he tries to figure out what year Fugazi played in Laramie the first time, before talking his listeners through the leisurely activities and pastime of the band since arriving in town the previous day.

The show then kicks off with Birthday Pony, which is appropriate since Ian is celebrating his 39th birthday that very day (see my earlier entries for Ian’s other “birthday shows” with Fugazi in 1988 and 1993 respectively). And this doesn’t go unnoticed in the course of the evening as someone shouts out to congratulate him, a girl asks him about his age (which leads to a funny interaction) and (part of) the audience even treats him to a “Happy Birthday” chant later on in the set.

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However, the good mood and in-between song chatter soon take a turn for the worse because of people pushing forward which has other people up front tumbling over the low stage and getting hurt during the first couple of songs, and the verbal pleasantries pretty much come to a halt altogether after Joe rather unexpectedly addresses a man in the audience, “excuse me, sir, excuse me, I’m sure whatever drugs you’ve taken this evening are very challenging for your mentality, but try to take care of this young lady instead of causing her so much trouble, ok” (cf. interlude 3).

As a result, the band is having some difficulty to gain momentum, and Ian struggling with a raspy voice right off the bat certainly adds to the overall challenge (by the time Epic Problem comes around, his voice is pretty much reduced to shrieks when shouting).

Still, there’s some cool stuff worth mentioning as well. For one, the band did play a total of 28 songs, which makes this show one of the longer ones of this leg of the 2001 tour. Plus, it includes a bunch of songs that were rarely played live at the time, including Cassavetes, Styrofoam, Lockdown, Burning Too (only version currently listed for 2001), Greed or Instrument.

And while the song selection on this evening in time is kind of all over the place (e.g. the first 8 songs already represent 7 different albums) and doesn’t always appear to make sense on paper, it works more often than not and provides some seamless combinations, cf. Oh into Long Division, Walken’s Syndrome into Cashout or Break into Downed City into Epic Problem.

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Other than that, I also enjoyed the spot-on rendering of Cassavetes which features some great dual guitar work, as well as a cool, jazzy version of Floating Boy (currently listed as their last ever performance of the song) which includes a notable sonic breakdown as well as some nice subtle effects, and solid takes on Sieve-Fisted Find or Number 5.

Plus, it is worth mentioning that Ian acknowledges the passing of Joey Ramone on the day before this concert (April 15, 2001), dedicating a massive sounding version of Instrument to the Ramones frontman and punk rock icon.

The audio quality of the recording is easily really good (even marked “excellent” on the Fugazi Live Series website) and it’s cool to be able to pick up on the audience as well during the performance, even though some of them appear a bit rowdy. Do note that Ian’s voice comes in a bit lower in the overall mix, particularly during the louder parts, but then again, his voice is pretty much shot anyway.

The recording is complete and presents a total of 28 songs as mentioned, taken off of The Argument (3) (at the time yet unreleased), Furniture EP (2) (at the time still unreleased), End Hits (5), Red Medicine (4), In on the Kill Taker (5), Steady Diet of Nothing (1), Repeater (4), Margin Walker EP (3) and the 7 Songs debut EP (1).

Footage this show surprisingly is available courtesy of Fatih Kizilgok. Note that it has been edited, cut up and that some effects have been used as well, but it does cover a good part of the set (https://vimeo.com/49604497).

"Are you 'woo'-ing the death of Joey Ramone?"

Happy birthday Ian!