Submitted by Dangerous Dan:

Wow! What a show last night in Seattle. This one was not to be missed.

The festivities got off to a start just after 10:00 with a solid set by San Francisco based Swandive. The band consisted of a female guitar player who also sang most of the vocals plus three guys who played guitar, bass and drums. They were all very versatile musicians with a couple of instrument changes during their set including the bassist and male guitarist switching and the female playing drums. Most of their songs had a similar structure with a slow, fairly soft opening followed by a hard, yet very catchy middle section that merged in with the close of the song. Not a bad way to start off the evening and certainly worth a listen if you get the chance to see them.

The size of the crowd definately grew at this point in the anticipation of Tribe 8. I had heard a lot about their shows, but had never gotten to see them live, and they were certainly everything that I had heard and then some! These five women not only rock HARD, but provide some of the funniest dialogue and one of the more unusual stage shows you are likely to see. After a couple of thier furious punk tunes, the singer proceeded to take off her shirt and whip out her strap-on (and anarchy symbol drawn on her stomach) in trademark fashion. She was joined by the bassist and one of the audience members. The lady from the audience further livened up the show by proceeding to crawl on stage on her hands and knees and simulating fellatio on the singer. Not something you see most days by any means! After finishing one more song topless, one of the security guards promptly handed the ladies patches to cover their nipples. This didn't go over very well and gave the singer the chance to go into one of her many tirades of the night speaking up for women's and lesbian's rights. She has a lot on her mind and has no problem speaking it, yet is quite funny and entertaining about her views without being overtly political. While the guitarist gave it her best attempt to use the nipple tape, the singer chose to put on her shirt ("and suffer" in her words) rather than conform to the club's no nudity rules. All in all they played for about forty-five minutes and even treated us to some new songs while getting everyone energized to see the evening's main attraction.

As is their norm at Moe's, 7 Year Bitch took the stage as expected just after midnight. Selene got things rolling with the understatement of the decade by introducing the set in a very soft-spoken voice as "We're 7 Year Bitch and these are our songs. We hope you enjoy them." I've seen 7YB numerous times, but last night they were just EXCEPTIONAL. Their shows are always energetic and inspired, but this took that definition to a whole new level. Elizabeth was pogo-ing like mad and Roisin was having plenty of fun laughing like crazy while striking heavy metal guitar goddess poses. Selene was hypnotic as always but extremely trance-like at times while laughing and smiling profusely at other points. Valerie was especially vivacious on the drums and her sound came through loud and clear in the mix which sounded noticeably better than the past few times they've played Moe's. They looked and sounded just amazing and gave us quite a set to enjoy.

The song selection was much to my liking and a bit different than the past few times I've seen them. Disillusion was especially gnarly and made a welcome return to the set along with Rock A Bye making it's comeback. They mixed up the songs well between old and new and the pacing seemed to flow from one song to the next. By the time the regular set was over, we had been treated to the entire Gato Negro album except for Jack and Miss Understood plus quite a few of the songs from Viva Zapata before Selene launched into her familiar "I want it, give it to me...". After a brief break, they returned for a three song encore starting with one of my favorite tunes, Kiss My Ass Goodbye. I haven't heard them play this one live for quite a while and it sounded terrific. Next, they played Lorna before finishing with Miss Understood.

The place was packed by the time 7YB came onstage and the crowd was really into it. I wasn't the only one it seemed who felt the energy coming from the stage. Maybe this contributed to the band's energy level, but I seriously doubt it. They looked liked they were ready to rock no matter what the audience was like. I noticed Val's mom in the crowd and Elizabeth said that her brother had driven up from Roseburg to catch them. The pit was quite active throughout the set, yet it was fairly friendly moshing for the most part. One person tried to stage dive and got somewhat manhandled by a security guard but I think that was just because he almost ran into Roisin who had her back towards him when he jumped onstage.

The funniest moment of the night came when Elizabeth began talking about how 'cool' it was for gangs to have signs and so, therefore, 7YB had come up with a gang sign for fans to identify themselves with. If you were walking down the street and were unsure if someone walking by you was a fan, you would merely flash the sign which Selene promptly demonstrated. It was quite hilarious and got plenty of laughter from the crowd. Words alone cannot describe it, you simply had to be there for this one.

An excellent show as anyone lucky enough to be in attendance knows, but sadly, this may have been the last chance to catch them for awhile. They will be taking a break for a bit before writing some more and working on the new album, but you can be sure that I'll be there the next time they play the Northwest!

Submitted by Jeff:

I was unfortunately unable to attend the 7 Year Bitch show at Moe on August 10, but I was lucky enough to hear the live iMusic broadcast over the internet, and it was another awesome show. Admittedly, it could not even come close to being as good as being there, especially since the band's stage presence adds so much to the music at a live show, but it was a lot better than nothing.

I don't know whether the opening acts were broadcast or not because I didn't get on early enough to hear them, but it was obvious when the band took the stage by the roar of the crowd shortly after midnight. I'm sure almost everybody there was aware of the ferocity of the audio assault that awaited them, so it was amusing when Selene timidly introduced the band and hoped that the audience liked their songs. They immediately launched into "Rest My Head." The remainder of the set included "Crying Shame," "2nd Hand," "Disillusion," "Hip Like Junk," "Rock A Bye," "The Midst," "Sore Subject," "History of My Future," "24,000 MPH," "Deep in the Heart," "M.I.A.," "Whoopie Cat," and "The Scratch." After the set, the band took it's usual break before returning to a thunderous chant of "Bitch! Bitch! Bitch!" to finish with "Kiss My Ass Goodbye," "Lorna," and "Miss Understood."

It's hard to say that any one song stood out more than the others because they all were done so well. I particularly enjoyed "Hip Like Junk" and "The Scratch," and "M.I.A." was as powerful as ever. There was usually a small break between songs where Liz or Roisin would adjust their instruments, but the band blended "Sore Subject" into "History of My Future" really well with Valerie hammering out the intro to the second song just as Roisin had finished the first, and it sounded really cool. I think the last song, "Miss Understood," was probably the best. Selene was excellent, both with the sarcastic lilt she added to her voice during "she's lost her place/ she's fallen from grace/she's gotta save face/ pick up the pace/ no," and her energetic shrieking.

There were a few other amusing moments during the show. Liz kept dedicating songs to people, and finally dedicated "Lorna" to "all the people who didn't say a bunch of stupid shit." Near the end, people were calling out song requests, and she finally had to ask, "What do you think this is, a karaoke machine?" The crowd also seemed to enjoy learning the 7 Year Bitch gang sign, and I was disappointed that I couldn't see it with them.

Overall, this was another very impressive performance by the band, and I'm really glad I got to at least listen to it even though I couldn't be there.