LIVE: L7 with SARCO, Perth – 11 December 2023

Shane | 14 December 2023 | Reply

LIVE: L7 with SARCO, Perth – 11 December 2023
Reviewed by Harvey Rae

I was first lucky enough to see L7 some 25 years ago at a one-off festival in Mandurah called Solar Stomp. Playing alongside a slew of cult acts including Primus, The Jesus Lizard, Tea Party, Ammonia and Beaverloop, they stole the show for many with a brightly coloured onslaught of catchy punk and grunge.

They were fast. They were lean. They were frightening.

Little did we know at the time just how relevant and ahead of their time these four women were. Coming up in the mid-80s LA art-punk scene, they had more than a whiff of Sunset Strip hair metal in their DNA by the time they signed with Sub Pop and hit Seattle in the early 90s.

There they helped solidify the riot grrrl sound they’re best known for and teamed with Butch “Nevermind” Vig to produce their grunge classic Bricks Are Heavy in 1992. It made sense that if they were ever going to do a Don’t Look Back-type live album retrospective, that would be the one.

Fast-forward to 2023, and it seems L7 are still being underestimated. Packed into the sold out Rosemount where the stage is low and it was nearly impossible to get a good look at their furious shredding if you weren’t in the front rows (and I’m 6’2), they’ve sold out much of the Australian tour.

It’s a credit to the longevity of Bricks Are Heavy and an indication of just how relevant their music is as an influence in the modern feminist punk movement.

In contrast, hot up and comers Sarco probably confused the crowd early with their electronic set. But they have a punk pedigree all their own featuring two members of Foam and one Grunge Barbie (perhaps the latter would’ve been a more appropriate support for the L7 crowd).

Shinead Ruby was as eye catching dancing on stage non-stop for 30 minutes as she is in the RTR online video of the band covering Shit Narnia’s Claremont Boys (greatest Slightly Odway cover ever?) but the squelchy 90s acid beats grew a bit samey by set’s end.

Roaring out of the blocks with Wargasm, L7’s short, sharp bursts of vitriol were challenging in the stinking hot environs early. By the time biggest hit Pretend We’re Dead came around three tracks in, it felt like both crowd and band were still finding their feet. Perhaps that’s just the danger of an album show.

But by the time Everglade hit, everyone had found their voice and the room was going nuts. Sung by bassist Jennifer Finch, who was in excellent form all night, it set the tone for what was to come.

The real of star of the show was Donita Sparks, who not only sings a good portion of their biggest songs but acted as de facto host. Song of the night Shitlist was a huge crowd singalong, and seeing Sparks rock it with as much venom as 25 years ago was worth the price of admission alone.

The attitude was still there, too. Heading into Diet Pill, Sparks announced it was a song about “domestic abuse revenge” to an appreciative cheer.

And later when some idiot thought Fuel My Fire was about him — climbing on stage, then diving and face-planting straight into the floor when no one wanted to catch him — Sparks chastised, “We don’t wanna be pushing the girls out of the way at the front, do we fellas?” Cue rapturous applause.

He’d picked the wrong half of the show for a start. Plenty had left for a breather following Shitlist and the moshpit had thinned considerably by that point. But it only made the atmosphere more comfortable, and certainly didn’t quieten the room.

Those that stuck it out were not only treated to some of their more recent belters like Stadium West and Trump-baiting main set closer Dispatch From Mar-a-Lago, but also early classics like Suzi Gardner’s scream-a-thon Andres, Shove (which remains one of their great tunes) and eventual finale Fast and Frightening.

Dedicating the latter to “all the babies in the house,” with Sparks singling out the young women in the front row who are giving L7 a whole new lease of life 30 years on from Bricks Are Heavy, it couldn’t have been more appropriate.

L7 Setlist:

Wargasm
Scrap
Pretend We’re Dead
Diet Pill
Everglade
Slide
One More Thing
Mr. Integrity
Monster
Shitlist
This Ain’t Pleasure
Andres
Fuel My Fire
Stadium West
Non-Existent Patricia
Fighting the Crave
Human
Bad Things
Shove
Dispatch From Mar-a-Lago