March 20th, 1982, San Francisco

7Secs pic by (unknown) / HR & Jello pic by Chester Simpson

I have a ton of ‘favorite show EVER!’ I’ve played over the last 24 years.

7Seconds playing its second show, opening for S.F.’s The Zeros (“the Mexican Ramones!”) at The Townhouse club in Reno on March 9th, 1980 was huge.

Being invited to go to San Francisco and play with legendary Canadian punk rock/hardcore band D.O.A. at the Mabuhay Gardens on October 24th, 1980 was even more epic.

Sticking around this long as an active (mostly) band Playing with bands like Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, Rancid, Buzzcocks, Operation Ivy, to name but a few, ‘favorite show EVER!’ shows are bound to pop up.

One show that I sometimes still find hard to believe that it happened was a show at the Elite Club (the former Fillmore West) in San Francisco on March 20th, 1981. The Dead Kennedys headlined and Jello Biafra had personally invited 7Seconds to come play with L.A.’s T.S.O.L., Washington, DC’s Bad Brains and S.F.’s Domino Theory. I believe Biafra wanted this to be a sort of Bay Area showcase for the Bad Brains and that turned out to be the case because - quite honestly - the Bad Brains blew everybody attending off their feet and out of the building. Every band was great that evening but the BBs were sublime. They were SCARY great.