This recording documents Fugazi’s first actual performance in the city of San Diego, in the wake of the acclaimed Hollywood Palladium gigs in Los Angeles.

The venue of choice, or rather the only available option at the time, turns out to be SOMA, an all-ages venue with a strict alcohol-free policy to permit attendance by minors.

Asked by one of the attendees why it took Fugazi until 1993 to play San Diego, Ian reciprocates, “there’s nowhere to play in San Diego, it’s seriously a fucking problem down here, and I hope that you all will figure out something… the police seem particularly effective in shutting down shows when you get down to this part of the stade, I’m not sure what their aim is but I certainly hope that you all think about it because they are removing from you the right to enjoy the kind of music that you wanna see.”

Later on in the set, it becomes clear Fugazi intended to play SOMA a couple of years earlier, but apparently it did not pan out and the deal fell through eventually.

According to Wikipedia, “SOMA was originally opened in the early 1990s by Len Paul at an old warehouse in downtown San Diego on 555 Union Street, just south of Market Street – hence the name ‘SOuth of MArket.’”

The venue apparently moved to a location on Metro Street, south of the University of San Diego in 1994, before closing around 1999 and reopening in 2002 at its current location in the Midway neighborhood, adjacent to the San Diego Sports Arena.

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Over the years, Fugazi played SOMA three times, setting foot in the original location near Market Street (this 1993 recording) as well as in the (former) warehouse location on Metro Street (cf. 1995 and 1999).

Here, we find the band still riding the Palladium high, delivering an overall very convincing performance. Tracks I particularly enjoy and consider worth mentioning include Cassavetes, Instrument (Brendan’s drumming takes it to another level), Promises (because of yet another great instrumental jam), Suggestion (which features a bit of an open-mic session because “it is a song about rape and sexual molestation, and sexual harassment, and when you sing a song over and over again, sometimes it starts to lose its punch so to speak, but a subject like that should never lose its punch so to speak”), Blueprint, Long Division (Joe on bass and Brendan behind the kit get it down to perfection), KYEO (fast-paced, yet damn well packing punches) and Sweet and Low closing the set.

The set list presents a total of 20 songs. It is quite varied and draws from the In On The Kill Taker album (8 songs ; note that Walken’s Syndrome is introduced by Guy as Mark 32 here), as well as from Steady Diet of Nothing (5), Repeater (3), the Margin Walker EP (1) and debut 7 Songs EP (3).

Add to this a number of tough-guy altercations, a fun discussion about the “Golden Age of Rock and Roll” when “the kids would say, ‘this is fucking vintage Rock and Roll and I’m hot and I don’t give a fuck’”, all delivered in really good audio and you might conclude that this recording offers all the essential live ingredients.

As such, it is vintage Fugazi and most definitely comes recommended, both for the casual listener as well as for the seasoned Fugazi live enthusiast.