Some two weeks into their two month long tour across the United States in the spring of 1993, and coming off of notable shows in e.g. San Antonio, Texas or Dallas, Texas (i.e. one of few shows on Ian’s birthday) on April 14 and 16 respectively, Fugazi played a one-off show in the state of Oklahoma on April 17, 1993, the only time ever the band played the city of Norman, which appears right “within Tornado Alley, the region of the United States where tornadic activity is most frequent.”

This complete recording documents the band once more in full stride, performing well and performing at a good clip. Presented are 22 live tracks in total, providing a varied mix and taken off of In on the Kill Taker which would not see its release until some two months down the line on June 30 (5), Steady Diet of Nothing (5), Repeater (7), Margin Walker EP (2) and 7 Songs or S/T debut EP (3). Note that this includes the Kill Taker rarity 23 Beats Off, which merges flawlessly into Exit Only here, as well as rather atypical encore with late set appearances of Styrofoam, Nice New Outfit and Suggestion to close out the night.

The band appears to be in a good, tongue-in-cheek mood as well, and finds itself in front of a lively audience of some 1000 patrons. Banter is entertaining and I.A. relates to the peculiar movie theater and wonky stage setting (note that Cassavetes will make a most suitable appearance), incorrect song requests (”Big Mouth”), the sort of “playground scene” that unfolds in the room, BMX legend and friend of the band Mat Hoffman, the Norman thrift store, sending a man to Mars and even includes Ian and Guy taking a stab at some Space Oddity or Rocket Man lines.

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While the overall audio quality appears a tad high on treble and the vocals sound slightly distant, it certainly is really good and very enjoyable.

Incredibly, near-complete footage of this entire performance exists and is available on YouTube. Even though the ending of the gig is missing in the video, it still captures a good part of the scene depicted below by James Means JR, which played out during the breakdown of Suggestion (cf. around the 1:26:44 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8Dm64WKmYs).

Note that the footage also shows Ian using his guitar pickup instead of his microphone to deliver a good part of the lyrics to Suggestion (cf. 1:23:53 mark).

I remember this was in an old movie theater with all the seats still there so you had to stand in between those rows of seats. The stage seemed make shift and would wobble some what. At one point this person went up and gave Ian a big hug during the show and they fell down and the person just held onto Ian for a long time for some reason. Guy in the band had to tell security that it was ok and not to intervene. They talked a while and then the person let go. Fugazi continues the show. Wow! Anyone else remember this? I know you do Ian. Thanks for doing this Fugazi!! -James