Pioneering Washington, D.C.-based rock act Fugazi has begun selling 20 complete concerts from its archive online, under the banner Fugazi Live Series. Priced at $8 for a single-disc show and $10 for a double-disc, the performances run the gamut from Fugazi’s first show on Sept. 3, 1987, in D.C., to a May 7, 1999, appearance in Kilkenny, Ireland.
“These are very much the original recordings without any attempt to correct for things like volume changes, strange mixing effects, or the occasionally out-of-tune guitar,” reads a statement on the Live Series Web site. “Though the sound quality on these tapes does vary, if a show was too poorly recorded it didn’t make the cut.” The discs will be burned on-demand and will come housed in a “generic cover with concert information and a track listing.”
Fans can sample MP3s and view set lists from each show on the Web site. Fugazi’s members have been kicking around the idea for several years, but the concept finally came to fruition in the past few months, while the group enjoys a hiatus from recording and touring.
In related news, Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye’s new band, the Evens, will play May 1 at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif. MacKaye has also launched the Northern Liberties label, to release “work that may seem obscure, but in MacKaye’s opinion speaks clearly to the point of music and expression,” according to its official Web site.
Source billboard.com.
