Mudhoney Tourbook, 1990
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1/27/90 The Central Tavern. Seattle, WA (70 min)
Supported By: The Derelicts, The Fall-Outs
Set: (You Make Me Die), In 'N' Out of Grace, Flat Out Fucked, Sweet Young Thing, This Gift, The Farther I Go, Running Loaded, If I Think, Mudride, You Got It, Need, Touch Me I'm Sick, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: Magnolia Caboose Babyshit, No One Has, Baby Help Me Forget, Get Into Yours, Hate the Police/(Jam)
Notes: They come on stage and take their time getting situated. Matt announces, "There's a party at my place tonight, if anybody knows where that is," and Steve and Dan play a few seconds of 'You Make Me Die.' After 'Mudride,' Mark thanks The Derelicts and The Fall-Outs for playing, and refers to them as, "two really cool rock 'n' roll bands." Then, after 'You Got it,' Matt criticizes audience members for hurting each other with stage diving and mashing (and hitting), and Mark changes the first line of 'Need' to, "Give me love laced with stage dives." Mark changes the end of 'No One Has' to "No one I know has, no one except Matt Lukin." That's just one of several people who are name checked throughout the evening, including the traditional talking about Bob Whittaker, and also Scott McCormick - Matt's friend from Aberdeen who accompanied him to several early Mudhoney practices. During opening of 'Baby Help Me Forget,' Matt announces, "I'm the only goddamn guy in this band who's man enough not to cut his hair. The closing jam starts like their forays into free jazz, and then turns into hardcore.2/10/90 The Showbox Theatre. Seattle, WA
Supported By: Gas Huffer, Coffin Break, Common Language, Dickless, Adrian's Childhood
Set: Here Comes Sickness, Touch Me I'm Sick, Flat out Fucked, In 'N' Out of Grace/(Jam) (set incomplete)
Notes: This show was a benefit for the Northwest AIDS Foundation, and was the last held at The Showbox before it re-opened in 1996. The crowd is rowdy and keeps mobbing the stage. Someone threatens to end the show before Mudhoney settles down. It's either an empty threat or the crowd settles down just enough to get by, because Mudhoney does play. They close with 'In N out of Grace.' During the song's breakdown, the crowd starts coming on the stage. Matt takes off his bass and jumps into the crowd. Mark asks, "Where's Matt?" And he eventually reappears on stage. So, Mark jumps into the crowd, and when he comes back, a good portion of the crowd joins him on stage. He's at the bottom of a pile of people on stage, still singing, and having a good time, while people are shouting "Where's Mark?." The song is done, Dan exits, and Mark and Steve stay, playing with people everywhere, while security tries to get people out of there. The PA is eventually cut, and the show is over.2/23/90 Prince of Wales Hotel. Melbourne, Australia
Supported By: Nursery Crimes, Hoss
Notes: For this Australian tour, most of the main sets ran 60 minutes and there was an encore (unique gigs, like 3/13/90, excepted).2/24/90 Old Greek Theatre. Melbourne, Australia
Supported By: Bored!, Proton Energy Pills, Have a Nice Day2/25/90 Corner Hotel. Melbourne, Australia
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills2/26/90 Barwon Club Hotel. Geelong, Austrlia
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills2/27/90 Old Lion Hotel. Adelaide, Australia
Supported By: Where's the Pope?2/28/90 ANU. Canberra, Australia
Supporting: The Celibate Rifles
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills3/2/90 The Venue, Dee Why Hotel. Sydney, Australia
Supported By: The Hellmenn3/3/90 Burland Community Hall. Burland, Australia
Supported By: Massappeal, Proton Energy Pills3/4/90 Kardomah Cafe. Sydney, Australia
Supported By: Lubricated Goat
Notes: Guy's band at the time, Lubricated Goat, opened the show.3/5/90 Kardomah Cafe. Sydney, Australia
Supported By: Plunderers
Notes: Matt: "Ahh!...the Kardomah Cafe...I remember that part of town....I left my pants there!"3/7/90 Caimbridge Hotel. Newcastle, Australia
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills3/8/90 Arts Factory. Byron Bay, Australia
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills3/9/90 The Playroom. Palm Beach, Australia
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills
Set: Magnolia Caboose Babyshit, Burn it Clean, Sweet Young Thing, Chain That Door, (Come to Mind Jam), Touch Me I'm Sick, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, This Gift, You Got It, In 'N' Out of Grace, By Her Own Hand, Hate the Police
Notes: The Come to Mind Jam has some of the lyrics from Come to Mind, but with different music. Some additional songs may have been played before You Got it. Mudhoney has a run in with the bouncers after the show.3/10/90 Easts Leagues Club. Brisbane, Australia
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills, Alien Virus
Notes: Stew Cunningham from the Proton Energy Pills:
The night Mark Arm was my hero!!...a tale from the pre-grunge era... Back in 1990, my band at the time, The Proton Energy Pills were lucky enough to be the tour support for Mudhoney on their first trip to Australia. Don't get any false ideas that we were somehow 'worthily selected', sorry to burst your bubble there, the music biz doesn't work like that...our manager was Steve Pavlovic and he was the dude who was bringing them out so he obviously put us the bill!!...Anyway it wasn't a bad fit I suppose! The tour was a total blast and by the time we got to Brisbane we were having the time of our lives...we'd play our set, have some beers and watch Mudhoney at their peak close up every night, do the odd stage dive and have a generally great time before helping to pack up the PA at the end!! We got on well with Mudhoney and hung out plenty especially with Matt Lukin but we were very respectful of them and mostly just let them do their thing...after their set this night which was at Easts Leagues club, people are kinda leaving and the PA is being packed up but the room is still about a quarter full. I'm in the middle of this big Leagues club on the parquetry floor talking to Mark Arm who is drinking from a 2 litre bottle of orange juice when a punter comes over to tell Mark Arm how great Mudhoney were. Somewhere in the conversation he notices me standing there and proceeds to tell Mark and myself how shit my band was and how Mark should have got so and so band to do the support...I was a bit taken aback and I think I said something polite like well you know maybe it was just a bad night, I remember I had a sore foot from jumping off the balcony into a pool at Byron Bay and we got lost on the way to the venue and singer Dave Curley had a sore back from driving all over Coorparoo so maybe we were shit that night!!...but this guy kept going on about it and was getting in Mark Arms's face, I guess Mark had enough and so he interrupts the guy and says - "You wanna know what I think, I think you don't know what you are talking about and I'm gonna have to do this..." and then he poured the entire contents of a 2 litre bottle of orange juice over this guys head...things went into slow motion then as it took ages for all this orange juice to pour out onto this guys head and then splash all over the place...to the guys credit he just stood there and smiled as Mark kept pouring it out, what else could you do? Everyone in the place was by now watching stunned just like me as Mark Arm gave the guy the juice bottle and walked off.3/13/90 The University of Sydney Manning Bar. Sydney, Australia
Supported By: (no one)
Notes: The show began at 1:00pm, which didn't stop Matt from being blackout drunk. After the gig, Mark and Dan left to mix the 'You're Gone' single, leaving Steve with Matt, who by this time was reduced to crawling, and thought that it was night time. Matt: "I kinda remember being at Sydney Uni...lunchtime....I left my pants there too!!!"3/15/90 Master Builders Club. Wollongong, Australia
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills, Unheard
Set: Here Comes Sickness, This Gift, Touch Me I'm Sick (set incomplete)
Notes: While they're tuning before 'Here Comes Sickness,' someone comes on stage to pass a message to Steve. He turns to his mic and passes the message to the crowd: "We have a message from our sponsors - we have to cool the crowd a bit or the big guys [bouncers] will come in." Mark: "That's me! I'm the big guy!" Then, after 'Touch Me I'm Sick,' two large men come out and remove an audience member. Mark tells them: "Howdy, neighbor. He's a good guy, don't hurt him or anything." Steve: "Those are the big guys." Mark: "They're even bigger than me."3/16/90 Lansdowne Hotel. Sydney, Australia
Supported By: Plunderers, (one other)
Notes: Matt: "Yeah...we slept there...ate there...saw boobies...drank there and sweated our ass off...played pool and probably were ripped off by Steve Pav....oh well...who hasn't ?"3/17/90 Lansdowne Hotel. Sydney, Australia
Supported By: Proton Energy Pills, L.C. Splatterheads5/25/90 Satyricon. Portland, OR
Supported By: The Raging Marys, Tikkler, Icky Joey6/5/90 The Vogue. Seattle, WA
Supported By: Black Supersuckers, Solomon Grundy
Set: You're Gone, Touch Me I'm Sick, Magnolia Caboose Babyshit, No One Has, Sweet Young Thing, You Got It, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, Pokin' Around, Thorn, This Gift, Flat Out Fucked, Something So Clear, In 'N' Out of Grace, Need, Baby Help Me Forget, Hate the Police
Notes: You're Gone, Pokin' Around, Thorn and Something So Clear are performed for the first known time.6/6/90 The Vogue. Seattle, WA
Supported By: Surgery, The Fall-Outs6/15/90 "Come Together Festival". Xanten, France
Set: In 'N' Out of Grace, You Got it, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, This Gift, Touch Me I'm Sick, You're Gone, Pokin' Around, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love6/16/90 Freizeit- und Bildungszentrum Bürgerpark (FBZ). Braunscweig, Germany
6/18/90 Paradiso. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
6/19/90 Fullham Hibernian. London, England
Supported By: The Fluid, TAD
Set: You're Gone, Touch Me I'm Sick, This Gift, In 'N' Out of Grace, You Got it, Thorn, Something So Clear (set incomplete)
Notes: The Flaming Lips were replaced by TAD on the bill. At the end of the night, Mark makes a reference to how the Mudhoney guys all have short hair now to a fan: "I suppose you don't like us anymore." Chris, who attended the show, remembers:Mudhoney were playing at the Hibernia Club for 3 nights in 1990 just down the road from the Mute Records Warehouse where I worked. I went to soundcheck and invited them down and told them they could take some Nick Cave, Wire, Can etc cds in exchange for me getting some friends into the shows. I had to leave the warehouse while they were pillaging it but forgot to tell them not to take my own stock that included Carpenters etc cds which I had just borrowed off of Pete Shelley from Buzzcocks. I didnt discover this till they were out of the UK so they got that $25 (owed from promoting Green River's 11/8/86 show and then some back off me for the 4-5 cds that they took.6/20/90 Fullham Hibernian. London, England
Supported By: The Walkabouts
Set: In 'N' Out of Grace, Flat out Fucked, Sweet Young Thing, Touch Me I'm Sick, You Got it, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, This Gift, If I Think (set incomplete and out of order)
Encore: Dead Love, Hate the Police
6/21/90 Fullham Hibernian. London, England (60 min)
Supported By: The Walkabouts
Set: Magnolia Caboose..., No One Has, Touch Me I'm Sick, Sweet Young Thing, This Gift, Flat out Fucked, If I Think, Here Comes Sickness, Come to Mind, Need, You're Gone, By Her Own Hand, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: Twenty Four, in 'N' Out of Grace, Hate the Police
Notes: They have some fun with 'When Tomorrow Hits.' Matt sings the refrain a few times at the start of the song, then going into the chorus he tries to get the crowd pumped up during this mellow (for Mudhoney) song: "Come on, let's see some hands out there!" And Mark joins him after singing the chorus with, "Let's see some fucking hands!" The World Cup is going on in Italy. It's the last day of the group stage play, and Matt uses the encore break to update the audience: "England beat Egypt 1-0. [Big cheers.] The Mudhoney soccer team beat England 5-zip. Ireland and Holland tied 1-1. [Some cheers.] I'm a Holland fan myself. Holland's not doing so hot, [unintelligable screaming] but they'll kick your guys' ass! [etc]" England, Ireland, and Holland would all advance to the knockout stage, with England making it to the semis before losing on penalty kicks, and Holland not doing so hot. Mark gets everyone back on track with, "We have an encore of three songs planned out for your enjoyment." During the breakdown in 'In N out of Grace,' they really break the song down, with Mark and Steve noodling and noodling on guitar after Dan's drum solo. They bring it back to the song proper, and Mark starts singing, but Steve is still noodling, and eventually they call it good enough and go on to the next song.6/23/90 Altes Feuerwehrhaus Sud. Stuttgart, Germany
Supported By: NOFX6/29/90 The Velvet Estate. Rimani, Italy
Set: In 'N' Out of Grace, Running Loaded, You Got it, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness (set incomplete)
Notes: These shows in Italy took place during the time when Italy was hosting the World Cup.6/30/90 Parco de Gasperi. Cogliate, Italy (70 min)
Supported By: Flux of Fluster, Why?
Set: Magnolia Caboose..., No One Has, Touch Me I'm Sick, Sweet Young Thing, Flat out Fucked, This Gift, You're Gone, Running Loaded, If I Think, Here Comes Sickness, Need, Come to Mind, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: (Revolution 1), You Got it, In 'N' Out of Grace, Hate the Police
Encore 2: Mudride, Get into Yours/(Jam)
Notes: When they come out for the encore, Dan lays down a simple beat and Mark and Steve sing sloppy portions of the Beatles' 'Revolution 1.' The end of 'Get into Yours' devolves into noise, with Steve handing Dan his guitar, and then playing the wah wah pedal while Dan plucks the strings.7/2/90 Piper Club. Rome, Italy
Attendance 500
Supported By: Nerves7/13/90 Chambers Prairie Grange No. 191. Tumwater, WA
Supported By: Thee Headcoats, Girl Trouble
Set: Magnolia Caboose, No One Has, Sweet Young Thing, Touch Me I'm Sick, This Gift, You're Gone (set incomplete)
Notes: Chambers Prairie Grange No. 191 was located at Yelm Highway and Henderson Boulevard. Mark is wearing the Green River Summer Camps t-shirt that he brought back during the Green River reunion of 2008-2009. The power to the PA and the amps cuts out just before the solo 'This Gift' and the crowd picks up the slack and sings it for the band along with Dan's beat. Kurt Cobain is present and pogos during the set.7/14/90 The Motorsports International Garage. Seattle, WA
Supported By: Thee Headcoats, Beat Happening7/15/90 The Pine Street Theater. Portland, OR
Supported By: Thee Headcoasts, Hitting Birth7/17/90 Kennel Club. Sacramento, CA (80 min)
Also on Bill: The Melvins, Thee Headcoats
Set: Magnolia Caboose..., No One Has, Sweet Young Thing..., Flat Out Fucked, This Gift, You're Gone, Touch Me I'm Sick, If I Think, Here Comes Sickness, Running Loaded, Need, Get Into Yours, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: Mudride, In 'N' Out Of Grace, You Make Me Die (w/Billy Childish)
Notes: Mark has some fun with the lyric to 'In N Out of Grace:' "Save me Lord, fuck the race" becomes "Brush your teeth, wash your face." For 'You Make Me Die,' Billy Childish comes out and sings, while Mark hangs out over by Lukin playing guitar.7/18/90 California
Notes: This show took place in the Bay Area.7/20/90 Rio's. San Diego, CA
Supported By: Thee Headcoats, The Holy Lovesnakes7/21/90 Bogart's. Long Beach, CA (75 min)
Supported By: Thee Headcoats, Pop Defect
Set: Magnolia Caboose..., No One Has, (Jam), Touch Me I'm Sick, (This Gift), This Gift, Chain that Door, (Jam), You're Gone, (I Wanna Be Your Dog) (w/Thee Headcoats), Come to Mind, Running Loaded, Get into Yours, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, Thorn, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love, (Hate the Police), Hate the Police/(Jam w/Thee Headcoats)
Notes: After 'No One Has,' they have some technical problems, so jam it out while getting things squared away. The technical problems return during 'No One Has,' so they stop and restart it. Mark asks the crowd if they want to hear something good, and they go into a second short jam. Then, it's 'You're Gone' with a LOOOONG jam on the end. By the time they finish, Thee Headcoats is on stage, and one of them has Matt's bass, white another is playing drums with Dan, and they jam on The Stooges' 'I Wanna Be Your Dog.' The middle section of 'Dead Love' gets messier and messier, and then they don't bother finishing the song proper. 'Dead Love' is the traditional set closer of this era, but they stay on stage to get in another quickly aborted song - this time 'Hate the Police' - before playing it to completion. Dan wrecks his kit very carefully (so as not to damage it), and that's it for most of the guys. Steve rolls around on the ground for a bit with a couple of Thee Headcoats making noise.7/22/90 Hollywood Live. Hollywood, CA (65 min)
Also on Bill: The Melvins, Thee Headcoats
Set: In 'N' Out of Grace, You Got it, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, This Gift, Flat Out Fucked, Sweet Young Thing, Touch Me I'm Sick, You're Gone, Running Loaded, Need, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love, Hate the Police
Encore: Thorn, By Her Own Hand, You Make Me Die (w/Billy Childish)
Notes: The crowd is mashing and surfing like crazy. They slow it down a bit for the mellow parts of 'If I Think,' but otherwise, they're going full throttle. Near the end of 'Here Comes Sickness,' a bouncer and a would-be stage diver mix it up right in front of Mark. Mark stops playing, and gives the bouncer a shove, shouting, "Leave him alone! ... They paid, you didn't!" Lukin has is bass off in a flash and is ready to mix it up, while Dan and Steve look content to stand behind their instruments and stay out of the fray. Eventually, cooler heads prevail and the show resumes. When they come out for the encore, Mark introduces 'Thorn' (just released on record) with, " Listen people, this is from our new single, which isn't nearly as cool as our old shit. The older we get, the worse we get." To close the show, Mark welcomes out Billy Childish ("We'd like to welcome a very good friend of ours, someone we've known for many years."), and after a little banter, they play 'You Make Me Die,' with Billy singing and Mark just playing guitar.7/24/90 Mudbuggs. Tuscon, AZ
Supported By: Chemical People, Bad Wanda
Notes: The setlist is similar to that of other shows during this year. A fan remembers this show:
Mudhoney's set had just concluded and I had to piss so bad I ran to the bathroom at the now-defunct Tucson venue Mud Bugs and took the first urinal I saw. Luckily for me, I chose the middle urinal because the next two people into the bathroom were Mark Arm and Steve Turner, Mudhoney's lead singer/rhythm guitar player and lead guitar player, respectively, who stood on either side of me, presumably with their dicks in hand. We were just three sweaty dudes recycling some beer, but for me, it was awesome. At that moment, having driven down from Phoenix with an ex-girlfriend and a (now dearly departed) friend for the sole purpose of seeing Mudhoney's first Arizona show, I couldn't have asked for more. But there I was, 20 years old, in a bar I shouldn't have even been in, basking in the afterglow of a killer show and finding sweet relief between two of my heroes. When I look back know, I'm pretty sure at that moment I didn't think it could get any better. Then Arm said, "Should we play some more?" I didn't know if he was talking to me or to Turner, but I answered anyway. "Hell yes!" was my response, which got a good laugh from both of them, and I quickly realized Arm was not talking to me. I zipped, flushed, and backed away but took my time at the sink to see if they were going to play or not. Long story short, they decided to play some more and even thanked me for helping them make up their minds.7/27/90 The Cannibal Club. Austin, TX
Supported By: Janis Eighteen, Sugar Shack7/28/90 Axiom. Houston, TX (55 min)
Supported By: Sugar Shack
Set: Magnolia Caboose..., No One Has, Sweet Young Thing, Touch Me I'm Sick, This Gift, You're Gone, You Got it, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, Need, Get into Yours, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: By Her Own Hand
Notes: Matt, Dan, and Mark wear dresses that are gifts from opener Sugar Shack, while Steve goes bear-chested in a gold suit with huge lapels. The picture of this show in March to Fuzz incorrectly identifies it as 1991. Mark introduces Dan (in a dress) to start 'You're Gone:' "The hardest working lady in rock 'n' roll - Danielle Peters!" At the start of 'Need,' unknown people have both Lukin and Steve on their shoulders. This leads to a little confusion at the start of the song, but Steve keeps playing the main riff, and they power through. Mark introduces 'If I Think' as being Mr. Epp's 'Mohawk Man' (which received some airplay in L.A.).7/29/90 Jimmy's. New Orleans, LA
Set: Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, Get into Yours, Running Loaded, You Got it, Come to Mind, If I Think, Touch Me I'm Sick, Sweet Young Thing, This Gift, You're Gone, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: In 'N' Out of Grace, Hate the Police8/23/90 The Powerhouse. London, England
Supported By: Mega City Four8/24/90 "Reading Festival." Reading, England (45 min)
Supporting: The Cramps, Faith No More, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Gary Clail
Supported By: Jane's Addiction, An Emotional Fish, Mega City Four
Set: In N Out of Grace, You Got it, If I Think, Here comes Sickness, Running Loaded, You're Gone, This Gift, Touch Me I'm Sick, Sweet Young Thing, Get into Yours, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: Hate the Police
Notes: They're playing a big festival, and hardly the headliner. When they come out, Mark jokes, "Thanks for coming to our show." Mark introduces 'Sweet Young Thing,' with "This song's for Axl (Rose, of Guns N' Roses). Axl, I know you're out there. You're probably in your little booth. But, Axl, this is for you." Then, before 'Get into Yours,' and referencing how they're playing to their biggest audience to date, which can lead to being nervous, he says, "I'm not sure if I should do this, but my mom said to imagine you all in your underwear." The encore isn't a planned encore, but rather a poorly-planned set length. They finish their set and get off stage, only to be told that they've still got time. When Matt comes back: "They said we had five more minutes, so I decided I'll come out here and talk for five minutes. I'm a good talker." Between Matt's talking and one song, that's the five minutes, and they're done. As they leave, Mark jokes, "Stick around for Jane's Addiction" - the band was supposed to go on before Mudhoney, but cancelled, apparently because they were angry about not being higher on the bill.Dave Grohl on this gig:
I remember the first time I ever heard about the Reading festival was right when I joined Nirvana [September 1990], and we were having a barbecue in Krist Novoselic's backyard, and Danny Peters, the drummer of Mudhoney, was at the barbecue, and we were talking and I said, 'What's the biggest crowd Mudhoney's ever played to?' and he said: 'Well, about 35,000.' And I was like, 'WHAT?! Where the fuck did Mudhoney play to 35,000 people?' And he said, 'Oh, there's this festival in England called the Reading Festival.'And I couldn't imagine that 35,000 people would listen to the same kind of music that we do, you know? So the first time I went there I was blown away that the bill was like Dinosaur Jr, The Melvins, Mudhoney and Babes in Toyland, Iggy Pop, Sonic Youth, it was nuts. And there were so many people, I didn't know if that could happen in America. Because that was right before any of the alternative stuff blew up, so it just seemed to me that it was so cool that it was a big rock festival for good music rather than the kind that you used to get where you hear Bon Jovi and shit like that.
8/26/90 "Pukkelpop Festival." Sanicole Air Force Base. Hechtel, Belgium (40 min)
Supporting: Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, The Cramps, Faith No More, The Buzzcocks, Billy Bragg, The Rollins Band, The Creeps
Supported By: The Paranoaics
Notes: This festival takes place on an extremely hot day. Halfway through the set, the guys drop their pants in front of the crowd of 10-15,000 and refuse to put them back on.8/27/90 Coocky's. Frankfurt, Germany
8/28/90 Theater Fabrik. Munchen, Germany
Supported By: The Front
Set: Magnolia Caboose..., Get Into Yours, No One Has, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, Need, This Gift, Touch Me I'm Sick, Running Loaded, Flat Out Fucked, By Her Own Hand, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love (encore possibly missing)8/29/90 The Loft. Berlin, Germany
Supported By: Stone Cold & Crazy
Set: In 'N' Out of Grace, No One Has, Flat Out Fucked, If I Think, Here Comes Sickness, The Farther I Go, This Gift, You Got it, Come to Mind, Chain That Door, Touch Me I'm Sick, By Her Own Hand, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love (encore possibly missing)8/31/90 "Uberschall Festival." Schlachthof. Bremen, Germany
Supporting: The Rollins Band
Supported By: Beasts of Bourbon, Party Diktator9/1/90 Odeon. Munster, Germany
Supported By: Bored9/3/90 Fabrik. Hamburg, Germany
Supported By: (one band)9/4/90 Schwimmbad. Heidelberg, Germany
Supported By: (one band)9/5/90 Rote Fabrik. Zurich, Switzerland
Supported By: Wild Billy Childish
Set: You're Gone (w/Billy Childish), You Make Me Die (w/Billy Childish) (set incomplete and possibly out of order)
Notes: "Wild" Billy Childish lived up to his name. During the encore, Billy came behind Dan's kit to help out on percussion, but in his enthusiasm, knocked Dan both off his stool and off the stage. Normally, this wouldn't be such a problem, but at Rote Fabrik, the drums are set up 15 feet off the ground, giving Dan quite the fall.9/6/90 Kino. Ebensee, Austria
Supported By: (one band)
Set: Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, You Got it, If I Think, Get into Yours, Come to Mind, Touch Me I'm Sick, Sweet Young Thing, Something So Clear, This Gift, In 'N' Out of Grace, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love, Hate the Police (set possibly incomplete)9/8/90 Rose Club. Koln, Germany
Supported By: Celebrity Skin9/9/90 "Metropolis Festival (Stage East)." Zuiderpark. Rotterdam, Holland
Supporting: The Gun Club, The Blue Aeroplanes, Luka Bloom, Sjako, Les Satellites, Roe
Supporting: Sons of the Desert, Three Dwarfs Make War10/27/90 "CMJ Music Marathon". The Michael Todd Room at the Palladium. New York City, NY
Supporting: Action Swingers, Bullet LaVolta
Supported By: Limited Entrance
Notes: This show was part of the College Music Journal's annual festival, which took place in a variety of venues around town from 10/26-28. At the show the next night, Steve mentions how they played an all-covers encore tonight: "For you people who were here last night, you won't be surprised by what we do next. We're gonna do a bunch of covers."10/28/90 Maxwell's. Hoboken, NJ (75 min)
Set: Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, Get into Yours, (You Got it)/(Black Sabbath), You Got it, Running Loaded, In 'N' Out of Grace, If I Think, (Big Cheese), Need, Magnolia Caboose, No One Has, Something so Clear, Thorn, Touch Me I'm Sick, You're Gone
Encore: (Revolution), (Revolution), (I Want You (She's So Heavy)), Stab Your Back, She's Just 15, The Money will Roll..., Fix Me, Over the Top
Notes: They play five covers for the first known time tonight - The Damned's 'Stab Your Back,' Billy Childish's 'She's Just 15,' Fang's 'The Money will Roll...' Black Flag's 'Fix Me,' and Motorhead's 'Over the Top' - the entire encore. They're talkative fellows tonight. They start up 'You Got it,' but something is off and as the song is falling apart, they start jamming on the main riff to 'Black Sabbath' (by Black Sabbath, from the album Black Sabbath. After they're done with that, Steve says, "That was kinda scary, huh? It's Halloween!" and they do a full version of 'You Got it.' Then, they engage in some banter. Mark: "Dan asked me to ask you if you would turn up the vocals in his monitor. And if you would turn up the vocals in my monitor, too, that would be great. Thanks." Matt: "Mark, Dan asked me to ask you earlier - what kind of shampoo do you use?" Mark: Clairol Herbal Essence." After, 'Running Loaded:' Mark: You've probably heard by now that's Steve's going to college in January, right? I don't know if this CMJ [College Music Journal] thing is still going on or not, but if it is, you're probably in college. He's looking for a place that will offer him a really good chance to be on college radio." Matt: "[mumble]. Eighth grade. That's as far as I got. Look at me, I'm a successful musician. Hey, it's not about telling you people what to do. It's about going out there and shagging as much minge as you can. Having a few beers, smoking a few joints." Steve: "Forget it, I'm not going to college. Dan Peters is going, and I would suggest if you're in college to drop out. I have a few times. Look at me now." Mark sings a second verse to 'In N Out of Grace,' and when they get to the breakdown, all the guys play free jazz-type music, while Mark sings over it, including: "The flowers, they look like the nitrous oxide my dentist gave me this morning." Afterward, an audience member engages Mark about his impromptu singing: "It's like poetry, Mark." Mark: "I'm working on it,I've been honing my poetry." "Write a book" Mark: "Would you buy it? I'll write it if you promise to buy it." Matt: "Me and Steve have been honing our chops." After 'Need,' Steve gets in on more banter: "This is the part of the set where Mark changes to another guitar. You may wonder why Mark changes to another guitar. It's because Mark is into alternative tunings [Ed. note: Mark uses an open Ab tuning on the next set of songs], and Mark is tuned alternatively." Mark: "Not only am I into alternative tunings, I'm also into farting a lot. The people in the front row might have noticed that." More banter after 'Thorn:' Matt: "This is the song where we jump around like idiots." Mark: "That's what you're paid for." Steve: "I don't jump around like an idiot anymore. I'm educated." Mark: "He jumps around like a professor." etc. Mark changes both the second and third verses of 'Touch Me I'm Sick.' For the encore break, Steve and Matt stick around onstage and chat with the audience. Once Dan and Mark are back, someone shouts for their cover of Spacemen 3's 'Revolution.' So, Mark and Dan do a little of The Beatles' 'Revolution' - first the slower version from The White Album, and when someone shouts "Not that 'Revolution!'" Mark says "Oh, the faster version," and sings a little of The Beatles' version from the single. This turns into Mark and Steve doing a little bit of The Beatles' 'I Want You (She's So Heavy).' Done joking, they play an encore entirely of covers.10/??/90 City Gardens. Trenton, NJ
Notes: This show probably took place around the time of their other New York and New Jersey shows this year.11/3/90 University of California, Irvine, Crawford Hall. Irvine, CA (55 min)
Supporting: Sonic Youth
Supported By: Gumball
Set: Get into Yours, Here Comes Sickness, This Gift, Running Loaded, If I Think, Mudride, Magnolia Caboose Babyshit, No One Has, Something So Clear, Touch Me I'm Sick, Sweet Young Thing, You Got it, Fix Me, The Money will Roll..., You Stupid Asshole, Hate the Police
With Sonic Youth: I Wanna Be Your Dog
Notes: They play The Angry Samoans' 'You Stupid Asshole' for the first known time. Mark sings co-lead with Kim Gordon on their cover of 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' to end Sonic Youth's set. The performance of that song is released on Sonic Youth's Irvine, CA - Crawford Hall - November 3, 1990 album. Other Mudhoney guys were on stage, and they might have been on stage for Sonic Youth's previous song, 'My Friend Goo.' After that song, Lee from Sonic Tough announces about the guitar he has, "This one is Steve's from Mudhoney, I'll try not to smash it. Luc, put this guitar in the monitor!" And Mark jokes that, "We're gonna do 'Gloria!'"11/4/90 Iguana's. Tijuana, Mexico (45 min)
Supporting: Sonic Youth
Also on Bill: Gumball
Set: Here Comes Sickness, Get into Yours, You Got it, Thorn, Touch Me I'm Sick, You're Gone, This Gift, Flat out Fucked, Pokin' Around, In 'N' Out of Grace, Stab Your Back, Fix Me, Over the Top
Notes: Steve starts noodling on something tangentially related to the blues before 'Touch Me I'm Sick,' causing Mark to laugh. An audience member makes it on stage and gets hold of Mark's mic during the outro to 'You're Gone,' and manages one scream into the mic before venue staff gets him out of there. The guys finish the song with noise. When they come out of the solo during 'In N Out of Grace,' Mark misses his first cue to sing, then just screams instead of singing the words the rest of the way. Once they get past that, he goes over to Matt and backs up into him, pushing him into the crowd, then joins him.11/8/90 North Shore Surf Club. Olympia, WA
Supported By: Fitz of Depression
Set: Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, Get Into Yours, Pokin' Around, If I Think, In 'N' Out of Grace, You Got It, Sweet Young Thing, This Gift, You're Gone, Touch Me I'm Sick, (unknown), (unknown), The Money Will Roll..., (unknown), (unknown), Hate The Police
Notes: The unknown songs are probably punk covers, like they close shows at this time with.11/10/90 University of British Columbia Student Union Ballroom. Vancouver, Canada
Attendance: 1,000
Supported By: Beat Happening, The Evaporators, The Smugglers
Set: Here Comes Sickness, Fix Me (set incomplete)
Notes: Nadwuar of The Evaporators promoted the show, and serves as the MC for the evening. He's giving Mudhoney a lengthy, trivia-filled introduction (as is his style) and the crowd starts booing. So, he shouts "Spit on me now!" and faces the consequences. Now Mudhoney has to take the stage that everyone's just been spitting on. Appropriately, they start their set with 'Here Comes Sickness.' They might have played multiple Black Flag covers, and if they did, they probably played 'Nervous Breakdown.'11/27/90 The Off-Ramp Cafe. Seattle, WA
Supported By: Gorilla, Sonic Brain Jam11/??/90 Great Hall. Toronto, Canada
12/1/90 Powerstation. Auckland, New Zealand (70 min)
Supported By: Freak Power
Set: In 'N' Out of Grace, Here Comes Sickness, If I Think, Get into Yours, Running Loaded, Come to Mind, Magnolia Caboose..., No One Has, Sweet Young Thing, Something so Clear, Touch Me I'm Sick, You're Gone, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: You Got it, This Gift, Fix Me, You Stupid Asshole, Over the Top, Hate the Police
Notes: Someone tosses a plaid flannel shirt onto Mark's mic stand at the start of the gig, and he leaves it there for the remainder. How grunge! Steve addresses the crowd when he gets back on stage for the encore (presumably in response to someone yelling for 'Hate the Police'): "We hate the fucking cops, man. Stick your tongue out at every cop you see. It's peaceful. It's nonviolent." Then, after they play two of their own songs: "We've got some punk rock songs for you." This is near the start of the phase (that ran through 1992) where they might play a slew of punk covers to close a set. They even recorded the batch of them at Egg Studios in Seattle around this time.12/2/90 Powerstation. Auckland, New Zealand (80 min)
Supported By: Freak Power
Set: Mudride, You Got it, Need, If I Think, Get into Yours, Here Comes Sickness, (Pokin' Around)/(Don't Fade IV), Pokin' Around, Don't Fade IV, This Gift, Flat out Fucked, Good Enough, Sweet Young Thing, Chain that Door, Touch Me I'm Sick, You're Gone
Encore: Gut Feeling/(Slap Your Mammy), We Had Love, She's Just 15, The Money will Roll..., Stab Your Back
Notes: They play 'Don't Fade IV,' 'Good Enough,' Devo's 'Gut Feeling/(Slap Your Mammy),' and The Scientists' 'We Had Love' for the first known time. The show the night before took place on a Saturday and was full (approximate attendance 1,000), and this Sunday-night show's attendance is a fraction of that - something that the guys joke about throughout the night. Steve jokes after 'Need:' "Thank you. If you could clap a little louder that'd be great, because we're recording tonight's show for a live album." Mark goes over to talk with Steve at the end of 'If I Think,' then goes back to his mic and says 'Audible!' to indicate that they're deviating from the written setlist while looking over to Matt and Dan as Steve starts up 'Get into Yours.' After the song, Steve says, "About that live album. The music will be dubbed in later. It's just you guys screaming that we need." And Mark seems to joke about the small crowd relative to the previous night's large crowd: "It's pretty amazing to us, the rise and fall of Mudhoney in Auckland, New Zealand." A little while later, Mark calls out, "Audble number two: Pokin'." Steve ("This song's about hope") and Lukin ("This song's about Hope Whittaker" - presumably a relative of then-manager Bob Whittaker) give their interpretations of the song. Only, Steve doesn't catch that Mark called for an audible, so he starts playing 'Don't Fade IV' while everyone else starts playing 'Pokin' Around.' Mark: "Didn't you hear the audible, Steve?" Steve: "I didn't catch the audible. I was playing the other Bob song. It sounded good. Could you guys tell we were playing two different songs?" As Dan starts up the drum beat to 'Good Enough,' Lukin shares, "Hey, that's a new song that Dan just wrote." 'Touch Me I'm Sick' falls apart after the last verse, too much laughter. They don't bother attempting to restart it, and instead immediately go into 'You're Gone,' which they jam out a particularly long time to end the main set. They come back for the encore, and it's all punk covers tonight. Steve: "I think we're gonna play some covers now. [Shouts from the crowd.] Well, we're not gonna play a Sonic Youth cover, but we are gonna play a Devo cover. If the other guys were up here, we'd be playing it right now." Matt also responds to a crowd member shouting for a song: "Our drummer's not heavy enough to play a TAD song." Mark polls the crowd before 'She's Just 15:' "Play something we know or something you know? [Crowd shouts] OK, here's a Flesh D-Vice (a band from New Zealand) song." As they finish the show and the small but enthusiastic crowd applauds, Mark says, "Thank you and goodnight. I think we can boost that applause on the record."12/6/90 Phoenician Club. Sydney, Australia
Set: In 'N' Out of Grace, Here Comes Sickness, You Got it, Pokin' Around, Get into Yours, Need, Flat out Fucked, Sweet Young Thing, Good Enough (set incomplete)
Notes: This set might be from the 12/7/90 show instead.12/7/90 Phoenician Club. Sydney, Australia
Set: Sweet Young Thing (set incomplete)12/8/90 "Livid Festival." RNA Showgrounds. Brisbane, Australia
Also on Bill: TISM, Died Pretty, Falling Joys, The Clouds, Fear of Falling, Dan Mullins12/12/90 A.N.U. Bar. Canberra, Australia (65 min)
Supported By: The Cosmic Psychos, Mudrac
Set: Magnolia Caboose..., No One Has, Don't Fade IV, Touch Me I'm Sick, Sweet Young Thing, Something So Clear, This Gift, Chain that Door, (Panama), If I Think, Here Comes Sickness, Get into Yours, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Encore: Fuzzbuster, In 'N' Out of Grace, Flat out Fucked, Good Enough
Notes: This is the first known performance of 'Fuzzbuster.' Instead of just changing the words to the third verse of 'Touch Me I'm Sick' (with a bit about being 14 years old), Mark also changes the words to the second verse (a bit about going to school). Lukin does a bit of the spoken part in the breakdown of Van Halen's 'Panama:' "Reach down between your legs and lean the seat back." When they come out for the encore, Mark says, "You probably can't tell by looking at us how old we really are. We started off in the late-'50s doing doo wop, and then we had a brief period doing surf instrumentals. And this is one of our songs from back in, like, 1962 ... Steve isn't going back to college to learn, he's going back to teach. (Steve: Settle down there kids, settle down.) This is what we used to learn back in the '60s." Then, before they make it into the song that they're introducing (the surfy instrumental, 'Fuzzbuster'), Steve calls out "Hey, (soundman) Erik, does this sound familiar?" and starts noodling around on his guitar. During the drum break in 'In N Out of Grace,' Mark introduces the band: "Ladies and gentlemen, on the drums, Ricardo Montelban. And his sidekick, Pure Corinthian Leather. Do the snapping turtle, Matt. [Dan plays Matt's bass while Matt fingers notes.] His master's name is Steve," at which point they go into a free jazz pastiche. After the song Steve says, "Hope you like our new direction." They end with the unusual closer 'Good Enough' - all the more unusual since the song is unreleased at the time.12/13/90 Ukrainian Hall. Geelong, Australia
12/14/90 The Palace. Melbourne, Australia (55 min)
Supported By: Cosmic Psychos, Nunbait, Killing Time
Set: (Jam), Here Comes Sickness, Running Loaded, If I Think, In 'N' Out of Grace, Sweet Young Thing..., Something So Clear, No One Has, Chain That Door, Don't Fade IV, Touch Me I'm Sick, When Tomorrow Hits, Dead Love
Notes: During the jam, Mark sings about Satan and John Travolta: "...filling the land of Hades with hellfire and brimstone. Yes my dear children, it is I, Satan. Satan, Satan spreads his wings with desire. And dances a lovely disco dance across the floor. Because Satan is John Travolta. Satan, yeah." Mark introduces the first known performance of Don't Fade IV with, "this is from our very first single."12/15/90 The Old Greek Theater. Melbourne, Australia
Set: In 'N' Out of Grace (w/Sweet Child of Mine), You Got it, If I Think, Mudride, Here Comes Sickness, Come to Mind/(Jam) (set incomplete)
Notes: The band had most of their money stolen from their hotel room in Melbourne's St. Kilda neighborhood and scheduled this show at the last minute so that they'd have enough money to make it back home. During the drum break of 'In 'N' Out of Grace,' Mark sings a few refrains of "Where do we go now? Where do we go now? Where do we go-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh?" from Guns N' Roses' 'Sweet Child O' Mine.' The crowd gets up on stage during 'Come to Mind' and Mark dives into what's left of the crowd on the floor while the rest of the band jams it out.12/16/90 The Tote Hotel. Melbourne, Australia (50 min)
Set: She's Just 15, Who is Who, Stab Your Back, You Stupid Asshole, Fuzzbuster, Gut Feeling/(Slap Your Mammy), (Paperback Life), Paperback Life, Twenty Four, We Had Love, The Money will Roll..., Hate the Police, Over the Top, Fix Me, (Jam)
Notes: This is the only known performance of 'Paperback Life.' This show might've taken place on 12/17/90, and was another last-second addition after the band had their money stolen from their hotel. Everyone is drunk. Very drunk. They begin with Mark making an announcement about a chook raffle - a typical Australian raffle of a chicken for fundraising - so that they can afford to go home for Christmas. After the first four songs, Steve introduces the next few by joking that they're doing a Davie Allen and The Arrows cover ('Fuzzbuster') and a Thee Headcoats cover ('Paperback Life'). Steve sings 'Paperback Life,' like on the record, and it falls apart during the first verse. They start back up from the beginning, and make further, but when it falls apart again, Steve jokes, "If we had soundchecks, that wouldn't happen," and they move on, with Steve introducing 'Twenty Four' as a Mudhoney cover. After 'Hate the Police,' manager Bob Whittaker is on stage talking about the chook raffle more, while Mark reads from a fanzine called 'Shitfeast' that someone threw on stage. Dan introduces the next song, 'Fix Me,' with, "Ladies and gentlemen, Steve Turner on the fucking guitar. Take it, Stevie!" and Bob sticks around to dance. They finish with a long jam - Mark on drums, Dan up front with a mic but not using it, and quickly Steve passes his guitar off to a woman named Rachel and dances. It seems like half the crowd is on stage. People try to clear the crowd off the stage so that they can conclude the chook raffle, of course. And someone from the venue adds that there'll be more music if they clear the stage. Mark: "If you want more music, start your own fucking band!"Steve remembers this gig in a 2011 Beat Magazine interview:
We were all so fucked up at that show. I'm not even sure what a chook raffle is! But we knew who Ian Rilen was [Rose Tattoo, the Australian X; and organizer of the chook raffle], because we'd heard X-Aspirations. It was great to meet him, and to hang with him." [Ian gets on stage to draw for the chook raffle, grabs Mark Arm in a headlock, and punches a roadie in the head.]Mark:
The Tote made me very drunk. I'm told we played there. While we played, my friend Martin Bland [of Bloodloss and The Monkeywrench] held a chook raffle trying to raise money to get home to Adelaide. He raised so much money he moved to Seattle instead. That was my first chook raffle. I'm proud to have been a part of such a wildly successful and legendary rock'n'roll event.A fan remembers about Mudhoney getting their money stolen, and this show in particular:
The story was the boys had, i think, around 15,000 bucks in their hotel room stolen from them. A local journo highlighted how easy is was to steal the money recounting the story of when he went to interview them for a street press article the hotel clerk just let him go into the boys room with nobody in it. ie he let anybody up there!! so a gig was quickly organized at a now defunct and legendary venue (I think I made it onstage and played Marks red Fender jag that night...yeah it was me) to make them some cash to show a little something for their troubles!!! good news was they were back later the same year and didn't hold it against us!! [The fan may be thinking here that Mudhoney got their money stolen during their first Australian tour, in February and March, 1990, so this December tour is coming back the same year.]12/18/90 Le Rox. Adelaide, Australia
Supported By: Hoot McLoot, Lizard Train
Notes: This show was (almost?) all covers, like the previous gig on 12/16/90.12/20/90 The Venue, Dee Why Hotel. Sydney, Australia
Supported By: The Hellmenn12/21/90 Paddington R.S.L. Sydney, Australia
12/22/90 Bondi Pavilion. Sydney, Australia
Set: Mudride, This Gift, If I Think, Running Loaded, By Her Own Hand, You Got it, Pokin' Around, Need, Don't Fade IV, Sweet Young Thing, Good Enough, Touch Me I'm Sick, Something So Clear, When Tomorrow Hits, Come to Mind
Encore: Hate the Police (encore incomplete)
Notes: 'Don't Fade IV' is written on the setlist as 'Same Ol''. The show takes place outdoors and before the encore, police briefly stop the show due to excessive noise levels. They're allowed one more song and they do Hate the Police. Following that, the band and crowd have a good time throwing beer cans at eachother.