L7 / Fea – The Regent Theater, Los Angeles, CA, 28th October 2022

L7, the Los Angeles native grunge rockers, brought it all back home on October 27th and 28th when they played back to back sold-out shows at The Regent Theater for the 30 year anniversary tour of their acclaimed album, “Bricks Are Heavy.”

Friday night, the venue was packed with people who appeared to have been fans from the beginning along with people who clearly had not yet been born when “Bricks Are Heavy” was released– and every age in between. The Regent Theater was host to fans wearing everything from patch jackets to Harry Styles t-shirts. The opening act, Fea, took the stage and by the second song of their set, the pit was packed and bouncing along. The San Antonio feminist punks delivered a hard hitting, high tempo set that warmed the crowd up for the musical mania that was about to ensue.

L7 played “Bricks Are Heavy” start to finish before playing a number of selected fan favorites that maintained the high energy of “Bricks Are Heavy” for a set that lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes. The statement, which I’ve now been told at least 200 times since moving to Los Angeles, “you can’t crowdsurf in LA,” proved to be untrue. As L7 played, the crowd was “fast and frightening” in the best way possible with a near constant stream of people running in and out of the pit, beer flying in the air and fans singing along.

When L7 took the stage, they exploded into “Wargasm,” the high energy, first track off the album, which sent the audience into a mass hysteria. The rhythmic drone of “Scrap” followed which slowed the tempo of the show just enough to prepare the fans for what was to come.

“If you leave after this song, we will hunt you down” said Donita Sparks grinningly and then playfully shouted “lock the doors!” before the band burst into “Pretend We’re Dead.” From the iconic first lines, “what’s up with what’s going down in every city and every town” the crowd danced and sang along to every word. Two fan favorites, “Everglade” and “Shitlist,” had the crowd particularly spellbound.

Known for powerful feminist themes throughout all of their music, L7’s lyrics resonated like never before for me, and likely many people in the audience, in light of the recent overturning of Roe V. Wade and its aftermath. L7 sound as good now live as they did 30 years ago. I couldn’t ask for anything more! Perfect 5/5.