fIREHOSE - 05-14-1990 - O'Cayz Corral - Madison WI - SBD -O'CAYZ ARCHIVE PROJECT Show # 006

It was a little past 1 AM when a visibly tired Mike Watt sat on a curb on Wilson Street, a few doors from O’Cayz Corral, where fans were still lingering out from fIREHOSE’s show that night. “That was the worst gig of my life,” Watt said despondently. “I was playing at 20 percent. We couldn’t breathe on stage, the fans couldn’t breathe.” A woman within earshot walked up and offered encouragement: “Yeah, but we loved you.” “It was terrible,” Watt insisted. “That’s no condition to have kids see a show. I’m not into this Bon Jovi money thing. I just want them to have a good time.” Another fan wearing a Husker Du shirt chimed in. “I don’t want to sound like an idiot,” he said, “But I thought you guys were great.” “But you couldn’t breathe,” says Watt. “Yeah but we’ll always remember it,” replies the fan. fIREHOSE’s gig at O’Cayz Corral on May 14, 1990 came deep into a brutal stretch of 43 straight shows on their Ball Bust ’90 Tour, with 14 more to go. The band was thankful to have most of the dates on the tour well attended, but the O’Cayz gig was dangerously bursting at the seams. Packed so far past capacity, with fans pressed so tightly together that they kept spilling onto the stage, crashing into the band and causing false starts throughout the set. Watt was not thrilled about all of this. “This is really kind of criminal doing this,” he said between songs. “It’s kind of stupid. We shouldn’t have 300 people in a little fucking room.” Still, the band pushed forward, playing remarkably tight and focused, even as their entire surroundings struggled to keep their collective shit together. The chaos from that night is ultimately the reason we are hearing this recording too. It was digitized from a first-generation soundboard cassette that was ripped-off by a drunk fan during the show. The thief waited for the soundman to step away that night, then quickly stepped up to the raised mix station and snatched the tape straight from the deck he was recording it on. We definitely don’t condone acts like that, even if it was 35 years ago, but this recording sounds incredible, so we’re sharing it in the name of historical preservation. The show is incomplete, as the soundman must have hit record near the tail end of the opener, “Operation Solitaire,” and the tape was grabbed before the encores, but the core of this beautifully captured show is all here. Enjoy! Note: Some quotes and details in this intro are sourced from John Kovalic’s review of the show, published in the Wisconsin State Journal on April 16, 1990. Big thank yous goes to Skip, Jeff and John. About: The goal of the O’Cayz Archive Project is to digitize and share significant performances from the storied history of O’Cayz Corral. Cassette tapes often deteriorate or are discarded over time, with many of these recordings existing only as a single copy. Digitizing and sharing them now is crucial to preserve these recordings before they are lost forever. Please reach out if you have a recording you would like to share.