On October 31, 1993, Fugazi embarked on another trip to Japan, performing on 5 occasions in 4 different cities, preceding one date in Singapore, no less than 15 dates in Australia and 5 dates in New Zealand.

The recordings presented here (FLS #0602 & FLS #0603) showcase two consecutive gigs at Club Quattro, in Shibuya district, Tokyo. According to TimeOut, “[o]n the top floor of the Book Off store, Club Quattro is a superior venue with high-quality performers. It’s not limited by genre, offering varied overseas acts, plus some of the best local bands, even ones that would usually prefer to play at bigger venues.”

The band is in high spirits, relaxed and unmistakably enjoying Tokyo city to the fullest once again. Both performances are on fucking point with few musical mishaps (note that the guitar interplay on KYEO is somewhat off during the first couple of riffs), the audio quality of these recordings virtually impeccable (note that the vocals are slightly more distant on the second recording).

As such, highlights are numerous and in this case pretty much depending on personal taste in song selection. Since the In On The Kill Taker album is a personal favourite of mine, I am pleased to note that, between these two Tokyo gigs, all 12 tracks of this particular album make an appearance.

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This includes a rather rare live rendering of 23 Beats Off. Only 26 live versions of the song are available through the Live Series at this point, often in combination with Exit Only as is the case here and which gels flawlessly.

Other than this, you get a total of 7 different songs taken off of Steady Diet of Nothing, 5 different songs off the Repeater album, 2 tracks from the 3 Songs 7 inch, 3 from the Margin Walker EP, and another 3 songs off of the debut 7 Songs EP.

In-between song chatter relates to the issue of crowd-surfing or “some gentlemen of the large persuasion who [are] taking up more than their fair share of space by clocking and shoving other people around like assholes”, Yoyogi park’s eccentric yet phenomenal Japanese band performances, bonsai trees, a “Zen joint” noodle place on the corner one floor down of the venue, Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Onigiri and plum-flavoured peanuts.

Highly recommended.