Second consecutive night of Fugazi playing in St. Louis during the fall 1993 tour of the US. Like the first night (which remains unreleased at the time of writing), this show takes place at Mississippi Nights, a venue they played four times out of the seven total they visited the Missouri's musical heart. To open the evening there's a dramatic, ice-breaking conversation between the band and the crowd about the Forest Park and people getting mugged there. After this we're taken to a delightfully rocking opening flow.
When Reclamation hits, it's quite clear that this tape sounds huge. Very bright for its era, wide and powerful. The mix is nicely balanced and detailed above average to my ears. All the instruments have room to shine and the vocals cut through appropriately. The drums have really nice distinction and Joe's bass is strong too.
Latin Roots and Great Cop are both ablaze and the energy level keeps rising as the band push on. Public Witness Program even has a few whoopsies due to the level of excitement it's played at.
Problems arise and Blueprint completely stops on its tracks due to rowdy behaviour in the audience. Luckily the band get the message through and bounce back to hit Instrument in a very heavy manner.
Break-In gets a really tight display, and it's good to hear this rare addition. The song was played only a handful of times on the fall 1993 tour, and it makes for a great mid-set punk rock boost. The band keep the theme by playing Suggestion next. Unfortunately something's not quite right this evening and the song can't get to the usual anthemic level. There's some distracting stuff going on with a few patrons tossing flippant remarks etc., and the song's usually mind-blowing mid-section just kind of falls apart.
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Redemption comes in the form of a brisk Smallpox Champion followed by a brooding Returning The Screw. The main set finishes with an impressive, up-tempo Merchandise. Brendan really goes at it and his amazing fills sound all the more splendid at this kind of speed.
The band starts the encore with Reprovisional which morphs seamlessly into a rocking take on Modern Lovers' Road Runner. Promises is the final beast and it's a pleasure to listen to the band groove with the great sound quality provided. Guy uses his noisy tuner to great effect during the jam part. Afterwards Sweet and Low gently says goodnight once again.
Compared to some other shows from the era, there are a few things about this recording that put me off a little. Mostly it's the couple of key tracks halfway through getting rough displays due to crowd control and the band subsequently losing some momentum. No reason to skip this entry though because it delivers the goods with the borderline excellent sound that remains stable throughout. Plus there are some very energetic performances, ie. the intense starting trio and songs towards the end.
1. | Intro | |
2. | Reclamation | |
3. | Latin Roots | |
4. | Great Cop | |
5. | Public Witness Program | |
6. | Interlude 1 | |
7. | Styrofoam | |
8. | Blueprint | |
9. | Interlude 2 | |
10. | Instrument | |
11. | Rend It | |
12. | Interlude 3 | |
13. | Waiting Room | |
14. | Interlude 4 | |
15. | Break-In | |
16. | Suggestion | |
17. | Interlude 5 | |
18. | Smallpox Champion | |
19. | Returning The Screw | |
20. | Interlude 6 | |
21. | Runaway Return | |
22. | Merchandise | |
23. | Encore | |
24. | Reprovisional | |
25. | Promises | |
26. | Sweet and Low | |
27. | Outro |
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.
Hi! I'm one of members of Dazzling Killmen. We opened for Fugazi on both of these nights and there is a nice filmed document of our set this night. That's it. Thanks!