"The touring band members also ask me, "Where did the name 'Pepperland' come from?" From the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine", the answer is "I knew it". It is the name of the "music island" that the four Beatles stop by during their tour. There is another big naming pillar. Did you know that there was a time when Columbus and Vasco da Gama sailed ships to unknown lands, and there was a time when pepper was precious and traded at the same weight as gold? It is said that the earth became one for the first time because of the missionary work of the spirits of the Jesuits and the pepper shipping as an economic activity." - pepperland.net.

Perhaps the Beatles connection inspired the band on this night because after the aprupt beginning the rest of the show sounds great, flows well, and gets close to psychedelic at times.

Track 19 is 'Encore', not a second rendition of 'Blueprint'.

Another one-off gig, this time in Okayama. This here is a recording of a performance I enjoy quite a bit, particularly since it took place at Pepperland, a notable venue allegedly the size of a living room or, as per Guy, “easily one of the coolest clubs we’ve ever played anywhere.” Imagine that Fugazi played a sold-out show at a maximum capacity of just 90 people!

The introductory notes and the beginning of the show (maybe other songs) are missing unfortunately, cutting right into Birthday Pony, a staple of this Japanese leg of the 1996 tour since this song as well as No Surprise were played at 7 out of 9 shows.

The set further includes a rare 1996 performance of Song #1 (only 8 are listed at this point), a rare instrumental version of Floating Boy (8 total are listed), an early and rare performance of Break (only 4 listed in 1996) as well as the only performance of Long Distance Runner in Japan in 1996.

The main set basically packs a bunch of highly energetic songs with just two slower songs thrown in for pacing, while the encore offers some more pensive live cuts. Once Do You Like Me comes crashing, I find the set list pretty much flawless with plenty of highlights including the By You sonic meltdown and seamless transition into Facet Squared.

The sound quality of this recording is really good, with just some occasional slight distortion on Ian’s vocals, as well as marginal cuts in between songs.

21 live songs have been preserved for posterity.

In many ways, this was the best show of the Japan Tour. Pepperland! I booked this show since it was on the Dogma circuit and it was a mom and pop operation close to Okayama University. I remember fans came down from Tokyo and Osaka just to see Fugazi at a club that was about as big as a living room (90 was the cut off for safety reasons). Enjoy!

PEPPERLAND!! I really want to hear it!