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According to the venue’s website, “Many of the Crescent City’s most beloved artists developed and continue to grace the stage at Tipitina’s including Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, the Meters, Cowboy Mouth, the Radiators, Galactic, Better Than Ezra, and Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews. Tipitina’s has been fortunate over its history to host national artists including Wilco, Nine Inch Nails, Pearl Jam, Lenny Kravitz, Bonnie Raitt, James Brown, Widespread Panic, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tim McGraw, Goo Goo Dolls, Parliament Funkadelic, Robert Cray, Patti Smith, Willie Nelson, Buddy Guy, Dresden Dolls, and Medeski, Martin & Wood. Many historic live recordings were made at Tipitina’s by artists including Professor Longhair, Tuts Washington, Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, Anders Osborne, Kermit Ruffins, Galactic, Kim Carson, Wet Willie and Flow Tribe. As a timeless musical institution, Tipitina’s has promoted unforgettable music over its rich history and will continue to well into the future.”
As to this Fugazi recording, it can be noted that the sound quality is marred from the beginning. Fortunately though, the mix settles during Merchandise. Once it does, this bootleg sounds really good, with just a handful of slight sonic irregularities or shortcomings later on. For instance, it can be mentioned that Ian’s guitar is too low in the mix during Sieve-Fisted Find and that the beginning of Blueprint is missing.
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From the comments made by Ian, it is clear that the band ran into some issues with the monitors early on in the set as well, but it seems these get resolved in the course of the Pink Frosty Instrumental.
Overall, I think this is a rather tight and solid performance, with particularly dependable renderings of Public Witness Program, Pink Frosty (instrumental take), Long Division, Fell, Destroyed, Suggestion, Forensic Scene, By You, Repeater, Promises, or Sweet and Low.
Further, it can be mentioned that at some point, Ian mentions the band was supposed to play Tallahassee, Florida the day before but got shut down, adding they “got there at around 4 or 5, about one minute after the fire marshall did, it sucked. You know what happened was the people that ran the place actually got a permit to do a show in the parking lot, but by the time they came back with the permit, the stage and PA people just decided to blow off.”
To conclude, note that excerpts of the Repeater and Sweet and Low tracks featured here are used to score some footage of the Fugazi documentary Instrument by Jem Cohen (See DVD track-list: No. 28. “Sweet & Low” @ Tipitina’s, and swamp walk, New Orleans, LA 1996 ; and No. 30. Driving: D.C. and Arlington, VA, into “Repeater” @ Tipitina’s, New Orleans, LA 1996).
At first the guitars and bass are virtually non-existent in the mix but once it settles, during Merchandise, this recording is a kick in the bollocks and definitely merits your attention. And it includes an instrumental version of Pink Frosty! Enough said.
This was my second time to see Fugazi. It was a tremendous show and I was ecstatic to see some of it show up in the "Instrument" DVD. I really look forward to being able to download this show. Thanks for all the memories!!!
1. | Intro | |
2. | Do You Like Me | |
3. | Merchandise | |
4. | Public Witness Program | |
5. | Interlude 1 | |
6. | Pink Frosty Instrumental | |
7. | Reclamation | |
8. | Target | |
9. | Interlude 2 | |
10. | Back to Base | |
11. | Sieve-Fisted Find | |
12. | Bed For The Scraping | |
13. | Margin Walker | |
14. | Long Division | |
15. | Fell, Destroyed | |
16. | Suggestion | |
17. | Interlude 3 | |
18. | Forensic Scene | |
19. | By You | |
20. | Repeater | |
21. | Encore 1 | |
22. | Blueprint | |
23. | Promises | |
24. | Sweet and Low |
Please Note: Available recordings have been mastered to correct for volume shifts, drop outs, etc. but some sonic anomalies will still exist, especially early in the set when the mix is being settled. The band has rated each show for sound quality and set the general price of a download at $5 per show. If you have a different price in mind feel free to utilize the alternative pricing option.
The third out of four times Fugazi ever played the city of New Orleans (the other years being 1990, 1993 and 2002), and it is set at Tipitina’s, a venerable music venue located at the corner of Napoleon Avenue and Tchoupitoulas Street in Uptown New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana.
Apparently, local music enthusiasts The Fabulous Fo’teen opened the venue on January 14, 1977, and named it after a song by Henry Roeland “Roy” Byrd (December 19, 1918 – January 30, 1980) aka Professor Longhair aka Fess, a New Orleans blues singer and pianist who also performed there until his death.
Interestingly, in the early 1980s, the studios of radio station WWOZ, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station, were located in one of the apartments upstairs from the club. During that time, occasionally, WWOZ would carry a Tipitina’s show live by literally lowering a microphone into the club through a hole in the floor.
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