Choose HxC: Two Free Shows, One Monument, 33 Years Apart

Two dates. One monument. Thirty-three years between them.

On August 7, 1993, Fugazi played a free show on the grounds of the Washington Monument. On October 24, 2026, Turnstile played a free show in front of it. Neither charged a dollar. Both played for something.

That is the shirt.

August 7, 1993: Fugazi at the Sylvan Theater

The Sylvan Theater sits on the Monument grounds, just southeast of the obelisk. Fugazi played it for free, to a crowd Dischord logs at 5,000, with Pleasure and Izalco opening. The occasion: the 30th anniversary of the March on Washington.

It was not a one-off. On September 16, 1995 they were back on the same stage, free again, about 3,000 people, in protest against cuts to programs for DC's needy.

Before either of those, in 1991, with the first Gulf War coming, Fugazi set up in front of the White House. A sign on stage read "There will be 2 wars." From the mic, Ian MacKaye: "They're going to have to fight one over here, too!"

This was a band whose target price for a ticket was five dollars. Free, on federal grass, pointed at whoever was in charge, was not a stretch for them. It was the point.

October 24, 2026: Turnstile in front of the Monument

Thirty-three years later, Baltimore's Turnstile ended their Never Enough tour with a free benefit show in front of the Washington Monument. Donations went to humanitarian efforts in Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan through the nonprofit Human Concern International.

The host from Human Concern International put the crowd at about 60,000. The pen filled; thousands more watched from the hill up to the Monument. By Stereogum's press time the fundraiser stood at $261,000. Brendan Yates waved a Palestinian flag from the stage.

Stereogum drew the line back to 1993 on its own: the photographer Pat Graham shot both shows, and Ian MacKaye was reportedly in the crowd.

Different band. Different decade. Same monument. Same price. Both for something.

The X

The X is older than both shows. Clubs marked it on the hands of kids too young to be served alcohol. Straight edge, named for Minor Threat's 1981 song out of Washington, DC, took the mark and kept it.

Written into a word, the X became shorthand: sXe for straight edge, HxC for hardcore. On this shirt it is drawn like the marker at the door, in Wake Orange.

Choose

Katharine Hamnett launched her oversized slogan tees in 1983. George Michael wore her CHOOSE LIFE in Wham!'s "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" video. In 2015 she made CHOOSE LOVE for the refugee charity that now goes by that name.

This shirt puts three choices on one chest:

CHOOSE PEACE ☮ CHOOSE LOVE <3 CHOOSE HxC

The third one is the one that shows up when it counts: free, on the Mall, with a cause attached.

The shirt

Front: the three lines, in a photocopy-flyer finish, the X in Wake Orange. Back: 08·07·93 / 10·24·26 · WASHINGTON MONUMENT. Two dates, one place, nothing else. If you know, you know. If you don't, now you do.

Black or white Bella+Canvas 3001, printed to order. Shop the tee or see the whole HxC collection.