Submitted by Jeff:

I went to see 7 Year Bitch play the Aragon Ballroom on July 5th as they opened for the Summerland Tour, and they were absolutely incredible (as usual). It was a bit different to see them as the opening act, rather than as the headliner, and they were forced to cut their set to 30 minutes.

The venue consisted of a large main floor where several hundred people stood, and balconies and a large seating area on the second level. The stage was about 6-7 feet off the ground, and there were six stacks of two 4-ft high speakers on either side of the stage. It was an all-ages show, so the crowd was mostly teenagers.

I was really disappointed by the crowd's reaction to the band. There were supposedly rules that no stage diving, moshing, or crowd surfing was allowed, so I figured that that was why the crowd was so tame. However, all inhibition went out the window during Spacehog's set, so I think the crowd just didn't know how to react to what they were witnessing. There was a little bit of jumping around up front where I was, but nothing too hard. It was basically stunned silence during the first few songs, and then the crowd seemed to get into it a bit more. I could tell they had won a few new fans after the set was over because some people left immediately after they were done and returned wearing 7 Year Bitch t-shirts.

The band opened with "Rest My Head," and the set included "Crying Shame," "Deep In The Heart," "24,000 MPH," "Whoopie Cat," "Miss Understood," "2nd Hand," "Lorna," "The Scratch," and "Hip Like Junk." They finished with "Jack." The band was plagued with technical difficulties, and Roisin's guitar came unplugged at one point (I think during "The Scratch). There were also a couple of instances where Selene's voice echoed (I don't think it was intentional), and the speakers emitted a piercing squeal a few times.

Despite the problems, the band put on an excellent show. Roisin added a few new guitar parts to "Deep In The Heart" and "Hip Like Junk," which were very good. Selene had the crowd mesmerized, but overall, I just don't think the people there quite got it.

The crowd responded very well to Tracy Bonham and Everclear, but there was a mixed reaction to Spacehog. Bonham played virtually everything off of her album, and as could be expected, "Mother Mother" was the most anticipated, best received song she performed. She was very good. Spacehog, which Elizabeth called "Space Pigs" and Selene called "Space Invaders," was booed and cursed by a lot of people, and the band got in a back and forth shouting match of "fuck you" with the crowd, which was obviously a staged attempt to rile them up. Everclear was the main attraction, and the crowd was really into them. I wasn't familiar with the music, but enjoyed their performance.

Submitted by Scott:

I saw 7 Year Bitch for the first time in Chicago on July 5th opening up on the Summerland Tour with Tracy Bonham, Spacehog (or the Spacepigs as Elizabeth called them) and Everclear. I had very high expectations for this show and believe me, I was not disappointed. We tried our best to get there on time and not miss a minute of 7YB, which is not an easy task for an Iowa boy trying to find his way around in Chi-town. Regardless, we made it there with like 1 minute to spare before Liz walked onstage and got the show started. From beginning to end the band ROCKED! There was a minor glitch when it looked like Roisin unplugged her guitar cable, but an alert roadie had her reconnected in seconds. Other than that, the show seemed to go off without a hitch. Val was pounding the drums like a true metal-head, Ro's guitar work was excellent, Liz's bass lines built the foundation of the sound as usual, and Selene captured everyone's attention with her entertaining, and somewhat intimidating stage presence. I happened to be on Ro's side of the stage, which was good for Selene watching, since she seemed to be facing that side of the audience more often than not. A couple of times I could've sworn she glared right at me, but then I'm sure everyone around me thought the same thing. :-) They played only 30-35 minutes, not too surprising considering there were 3 other bands. They mainly did stuff from "Gato Negro", but threw in a couple older tunes, with "The Scratch" getting the biggest reaction from the crowd.