Germany has been a staple as far as the Fugazi tour chronology goes, having been a part of every European tour on the old continent with the exception of a short string of shows in the Fall of 2000 which only included Scandinavia in northern Europe.

The land of Bratwurst mit Sauerkraut, well, that and an established punk and hardcore scene, has hosted a number of great shows over the years, Munich and Berlin in 1992 come to mind, and I now can add this one, set at the Hallschlag Jugendzentrum in Stuttgart, “a weird multi-purpose hall in Stuttgart, in the middle of a working class area”. The second out of only two times Fugazi played this city in southern Germany.

“Lighting designers do not play music, they design light motherfucker!”, Ian shouts while the band configures the house lights. And thus starts the recording of a strong performance overall, with some great interplay and the band taking its time to build up to the songs, adding some nice flourishes here and there (Back to Base does feel a bit rushed though).

Presented here are 24 live cuts. Red Medicine makes a near complete appearance (10 tracks), followed by In on the Kill Taker (4), Repeater (3), Margin Walker EP (3) and 7 Songs debut EP (3) and Steady Diet of Nothing (just 1 song).

My personal highlights include Guy’s churning, swirling Rickenbacker on Sieve-Fisted Find, Target, Long Division transitioning smoothly into Give Me The Cure, the powerful quartet closing out the main set (By You into Instrument into Forensic Scene into Shut the Door), and no less than three encores (including the funky house music played over the public address) which not only showcase another great sequence of songs (Rend It into Sweet and Low into Fell, Destroyed) but also pack a number of early bangers to indulge the audience (even though Guy initially refers to a bus curfew and promises the band is “gonna do this fast”).

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Worth mentioning as well are the Red Medicine rarities Combination Lock and Latest Disgrace, which have been shelved indefinitely once the 1995 tour concluded, yet work well here. Combination Lock as set opener makes sense as well, since the band mentions coming in late from Prague in the Czech Republic and the instrumental will have provided them with a chance to get a feel of the room and acoustics, and to figure out the mix.

But one of the things I enjoy most about this recording, is that sound engineer Joey Picuri appears to have been playing around with some reverb on the vocals, the guitars or kick drum during a number of songs, which renders these performances ever so ethereal and haunting, Sweet and Low particularly.

The audio quality of this recording is pretty much very good, although Brendan’s snare drum sounds a bit distant and packs less of a punch because of it.

Footage of the concert exists but is shot from the back of the room, occasionally zooming in, which makes it less engaging than the audio recording presented here in my opinion. The video and a written interview with Ian MacKaye (in German) can be found here: https://kaput-mag.com/catch_en/fugazi-one-night-at-the-hallschlag/

Very enjoyable show from beginning to end. Strong option if one is looking to buy a show from this tour leg.