Submitted by Dangerous Dan:

The show was held at Moe's in Seattle (a small club that was where the Mad Love scenes were filmed and a great place to see live bands) and was set to begin at 9:30 PM. I arrived about 9:00 and was stunned to find a line outside waiting to get in! I have seen 7YB 19 times and have yet to be unable to buy tickets at the door, but seeing this line had me worried. I was hoping that I hadn't just driven three hours for nothing! After standing in line for awhile we were assured by the door person that the show was not sold out and that we would get in shortly. After about half an hour we made it in to find an even larger line snaking through both floors of Moe's with people all waiting to get tickets. I have never seen this before at Moe's and it felt a bit like Disneyland. The line moved fairly quickly and eventually we made it in.

The show was a benefit for Oly Nesby, a friend of 7YB's who suffered a stroke and now has enormous medical bills, so it was nice to see such a full house and it helped to explain why so many people were there. The proceeds from the show went to help him with the costs of his care. He attended the show and they let him watch from a special balcony area which was closed off to everyone except those with guest passes. Two of the opening bands (AC Autolux and Job) were asked to play at this show because they are also friends of Oly's.

AC Autolux was up first and consisted solely of a female drummer who also sang vocals and a male bassist. They were good at creating a LOT of noise but quickly grew boring. With two instruments there's only so much you can do before the songs all sound the same.

Job was next and were quite good. A three-piece consisting of a female guitarist/vocalist along with a male drummer and male bassist they showed much more diversity and experience and were consequently allowed to play past their alloted time since everyone in the crowd wanted to hear more from them.

Bumrush (featuring Mike McCready of Pearl Jam) was the last of the opening bands and pummeled us with a short but ferocious set of hardcore punk numbers including a blistering cover of the Sex Pistols' Bodies. They also teased us with a snatch of Led Zeppelin as well as the opening of The Scratch which led into a closing song dedicated to the ladies in 7YB.

With that, 7YB took the stage about midnight and discovered that in all of the time taken for soundcheck they had forgotten Selene's microphone! While she ran to find a mic Liz talked about the new album and also informed us that in addition to the show being a benefit for Oly it was also Val's 27th birthday. Liz said the new album would be coming out in March and that they were going to be playing most all of the new songs for us. Selene finally returned with a mic and they launched into several new songs before throwing in a couple of old favorites like It's Too Late, Lorna, MIA and Hip Like Junk and then closing with some more new songs. We also got to sing Happy Birthday to Val while she was presented with a large bouquet of balloons. For an encore they played The Scratch which Selene screwed up the vocals on in the middle. She either lost her place or momentarily forgot the words and started screaming "I'm sorry, I'm FUCKING SORRY" in place of the correct words and in time to the music. This caused everyone to start laughing hysterically — especially Liz, Val and Roisin — before they regained their composure and finished the song normally. Liz stated "that song is so easy that after playing it a million times we just have to fuck it up every once in awhile!" We all had a good laugh and then they closed with two more new songs. It was a great set and quite long (about 90 minutes) compared to the length they normally play. The new songs seem to be longer than their older songs (just an observation, not a complaint!) and a couple of them are ballads similar to Damn Good And Well but the rest are pure, straight ahead rockers like they do so well. Roisin seems to get a bit more of a role on the new songs and a chance to show some new guitar tricks she's learned as well as a few solos. After hearing these songs I can hardly wait to hear the new album! Sadly though, if this show was any indication it appears that their days of playing small clubs may be drawing to a close. :-( Atlantic no doubt knows they have a hot property and will be promoting the new album like crazy. If you get the opportunity to check them out in a small club, I urge you to do it while you still can. You won't be sorry!