L7 - Electric Ballroom, London - June 16 2015 (Live Review)
Thursday, 18 June 2015
Written by Laura Johnson
Photo: Rob Sheridan
The streets of Camden are littered with people of every size, style and hair colour, but they all seem to be heading in the same direction. The destination is the Electric Ballroom, where grunge legends L7 are about to continue their reunion.
The band, who formed in 1985 and later inspired a plethora of riot girl acts in the ‘90s, tumbled into an indefinite hiatus at the turn of the century, one that ended up lasting nearly a decade and a half. L7 are part of rock ’n’ roll history, and unfortunately it has taken their recent reunion to remind people of that.
For fuck’s sake, this is a band who were covered by The Prodigy, had their tracks feature in cult films Natural Born Killers and Tank Girl, threw a used tampon at a Reading festival crowd and dropped their pants for the world to see on The Word. They may have been gone for 14 years, but it doesn’t take long for L7 to remind us that they will be heard, whether we like it or not.
Black Moth take to the stage and do a more than satisfactory job of whipping up the crowd into a suitable frenzy. With the lights dimmed low and a dash of dry ice splashed about the place, the tone is set. But, the oversized black balloons that are released during Looner do little to complement the gloriously gloomy atmosphere the Leeds quintet have worked so hard to create.
A wave of nostalgia washes over the floor as soon as a flash of Jennifer Finch’s red hair and the skeleton hands back drop appears. Going straight for the jugular, L7 kick off with Deathwish, a song that contains lyrics to accurately document the teenage years of many in attendance: “She’s got a deathwish, coming home is a hit or a miss, she's got a deathwish, in a self-destructive blitz.”
Following that, the LA ladies churn out what can only be described as a career-spanning set, including Fuel My Fire, (Right On) Thru, Shitlist and Fast and Frightening, as well as the much-loved Monster, Shove and Pretend We’re Dead. They even throw in their cover of Eddie & The Subtitles’ American Society during the encore, just for good measure.
With a sound that could fill a venue 10 times the size of this one, stage presence that makes you shut the fuck up and listen and lyrics spat with the same vehemence they were 30 years ago, L7 prove that they are not only still relevant, but necessary in a music scene that desperately needs to cut the bullshit and get back to the fundamentals.
L7 Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows
Thu July 16 2015 - LOS ANGELES California - Fonda Theatre (formerly Music Box Theatre) (USA)
Fri July 17 2015 - LOS ANGELES California - Fonda Theatre (formerly Music Box Theatre) (USA)
Sun September 06 2015 - TORONTO Ontario - Danforth Music Hall Theatre (Canada)
Tue September 08 2015 - NEW YORK New York - Irving Plaza (Formerly Fillmore) (USA)
Wed September 09 2015 - BROOKLYN New York - Warsaw (USA)
Fri September 11 2015 - PHILADELPHIA Pennsylvania - Trocadero (USA)
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