FUGAZI USA/CAN SUMMER TOUR '98 : REPORTS

SHOW REVIEW FROM DJENGOMAN  - ROCHESTER (NY) July 18

Saturday, July 18th, 1998. I saw Fugazi live in Rochester, NY at the Harro
East Ballroom. The amount spent on gas exceeded the ticket price by far.
First, a local Rochester band went on. I didn't catch their name, but they
weren't too bad. Not bad at all. Second came Blonde Redhead. Interesting, to
say the least. But I won't devulge into my description of their performances
any further. I'll just stick to Fugazi. During the opening bands sets, my
brothers and I caught glimpses of Guy and the "fifth member of Fugazi" messing
around on the roof of the venue. Jumping out of windows and such. Kinda odd.
Looked like a good time.

This is my first time seeing them, and I'd have to say they were nothing short
of incredible. Twenty four songs in all, and I can't say I heard one mishap.
They played eight songs off of End Hits, and several off the previous
releases. Ian had the crowd laughing just as they hit the stage. Said
something like "I always like it when eight seconds after walking onstage,
somone calls me a motherfucker." Then he asked the crowd if anyone was at the
Rochester show three years ago. Someone responded with "Fuck Rochester" and
Ian went off on him. " 'Fuck Rochester'? Tell me man, what town are you from
that's so fucking great?" For the record, the man came from Bath. But that's
not important. It was just really funny to hear him busting on this guy.

After a little of that banter, the band opened it up with "Birthday Pony."
They were phenomenal. I'd have to say, the most intense performers I've ever
seen. The mysterious "fifth member of Fugazi"* was onstage with Brendan for
extra drums on "Closed Captioned" and a few others. He also played some
trumpet for a great rendition of "Floating Boy." Guy threw down his guitar to
dance around a bit, I think during "Merchandise" and maybe a few others.
Awesome. Joe sang one song, "Recap Modotti." That was my brother's personal
favorite. Joe's got a good voice, he should use it more often. The band left
temporarily, and came back inevitably for an encore. "You'd make a great cop,
you fuckin' pig!" lead us into "Great Cop." They closed the night off with
"Five Corporations", a favorite of mine off of the new one. Great performance.
I wanted to catch the Syracuse show the night before as well, but it would've
been pretty difficult. Regardless, I've seen them live, and I've come back
happy.

-DjengoMan

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* just a little note to let you know the name of that man = JERRY BUSHER (also in All scars)....