#flood zone

I was a teenage Ballsac

FloodZone exhibition at the HistoryMiami Museum 

Photo © by Antonia Tricarico

Fugazi, Flood Zone, Richmond, VA USA 5/11/1998 (FLS #0858)

Penultimate and shortest show of the 1998 spring US tour (11 dates), as well as the second and last time Fugazi would play the Flood Zone in Richmond, a venue that appears to have gone up for sale a couple of years ago.

The recording features just 18 songs total, taken off of the End Hits album (released a month prior) for the most part (8 songs), Red Medicine (1), In on the Kill Taker (3), Steady Diet (2), Repeater (2) and the Margin Walker EP (1). Note a rather rare live appearance of Foreman’s Dog, as well as the slow or toned-down mid-section of the set.

However, overall, it turned out to be quite a contentious show because the band takes offense at the misbehavior of the bouncers. Listen close as a first attempt at No Surprise (Interlude 3) is interrupted as Guy and Ian take aim at the security personnel for kicking someone out for no good reason, after which Ian appears to go out and find the person while the rest of the band goes into an impromptu jam.

After another, successful, stab at No Surprise, and going into Long Division, Ian muses, “it’s sort of a clash of cultures you know, there are people who behave in a way that they need to be taken care of, and there’s people who will take care of themselves, let’s be the people that take care of ourselves.” 

To little avail, since more turmoil and altercations between Ian and the bouncers ensue shortly after, halfway through Blueprint, and while the last note of the song is still in the air, the recording documents Ian saying “this is an unusual opportunity, this is a quite unusual thing to do but I really think it’s appropriate given the fucking situation” before barking “YOU’D MAKE A GREAT COP YOU FUCKING PIG” and bursting through Great Cop for the second time around on the same night, closing out the set!

Ian shares some more details of the story in Joe Gross’ 33 1/3 book on In on the Kill Taker, “Backstage, MacKaye found himself surrounded by the manager and the cops and security guys. [Ian MacKaye:] ‘They wanted to beat my fucking ass because I called them out. They tell me to get the fuck out of the building, so I have to sit in the van while the band loads out. We finally all assemble outside. I look at the guys and I say, ‘Hold on.’ I walk back into the venue. The band was like, ‘They are going to kill you.’ But I go up to the bar. I got the whole ‘you got a  lot of nerve coming back up here’ but it was fine. It was just the perfect song.”

The sound quality of the recording is very good, not considering some volume drops and sonic discrepancies during the first couple of songs, after which the mix settles. Joe’s bass in particular is the icing on the cake here. Note the distinct reverb on both Ian’s vocals and Guy’s guitar early on in the set, as well as on Joe’s vocals during Recap Modotti, but I am guessing sound engineer Nick Pellicciotto was playing around for effect here.

The set list:

Recent Acquisition - Ephemera Collection