#schlachthof

Photo © Wikipedia

Fugazi, Schlachthof, Bremen, Germany 7/3/1992 (FLS #0483)

This tape documents the last date Fugazi played on German soil at the tail end of the 2 1/2 month European tour in 1992, just before wrapping up with three shows in Scandinavia and one in the Netherlands.

Venue of choice in Bremen was, as it has been on all four occasions the band hit this city over the years, the Schlachthof, “located on the site of the former municipal slaughterhouse [...], near the main train station, and [...] the largest cultural center in Bremen.”

Let me get out of the way that the sound quality of this recording is easily really good, well balanced, clear and highly enjoyable.

The performance is sprinkled with plenty of treats, and starts off nicely with a version of Joe #1 (tagged Phantom of the Opera) that includes some mesmerizing reverb on the guitars, sounding great. Last Chance for a Slow Dance catches some more cool reverb, this time on Guy’s vocals, rendering his lines “Flare fakes a flower, A burnt-out shower, No one can see” hauntingly beautiful. 

Last Chance transitions smoothly into an early slotted Promises, followed by great versions of Turnover and Suggestion, during which Ian even addresses the audience in the German language and invites anyone interested to make use of the mic. Margin Walker makes for another seamless combination, even though a segment of the song is missing due to an unfortunate cassette flip. 

Give Me The Cure is a bit of a turning point for this show, with Ian’s guitar being slightly out of tune and, mostly, because of some animosity emerging between the band and some of the patrons after the song. While the reasons for this are rather unclear from the recording, it appears it might have had something to do with a handful of people persistently insulting the band and trying to tell them what to play.

Frustration gradually builds, yet if anything, the band take it into stride and up the ante, turning an already strong performance into a genuine powerplay, busting out a string of songs to address the situation and taunts at hand in a most appropriate fashion. 

Listen closely as Ian steps away from the mic while singing Long Division, “the quietest song ever played”, and Brendan merely plays off of his infamous bell. Ian, Guy and even Brendan (behind the drum kit) then team up on the “crack, crack, crack” spiel which heralds another fantastic version of Blueprint to close out the main set. And the band do not let up, adding some more self-deprecating banter and a forceful combination of songs, Great Cop into Rend It into Repeater, to the musical downpour.

You get some cool snare hits and guitar play leading into Two Beats Off, and a drawn-out yet overall restrained version of Shut the Door to finish the set strong, clocking in at 9 1/2 minutes, and closing out with ominous guitar feedback.

The tape features a complete set of 20 live tracks, making up one of the longer performances of this tour, and drawing quite evenly from the (at the time) upcoming In on the Kill Taker album (4), Steady Diet of Nothing (4), Repeater (5), 3 Songs seven-inch (1), Margin Walker EP (3) as well as the 7 Songs debut EP (3).

Surely another entry in the series to take notice of. “Vielen Dank.”

The set list:

Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls (with Cahir on the bass guitar) in Wiesbaden last weekend. It’s always so good to have them back in your own country. And it was also a massiv thorwback, because back in the day when I was still living with my parents, driving to Wiesbaden or Frankfurt am Main was my normal route for a gig. So a one hour drive to a gig and then back again.

life is fucked up but i can ride my bike pretty well

Morgen Stund. 

Shot on Olympus Om-10 with a Olympus OM 1.8 50mm F-Zuiko lens. Ilford HP5+