L7 Setlist

Deathwish
Andres
Fuel My Fire
Monster
Stadium West
Wargasm
Off the Wagon
Uppin’ the Ice
Bitter Wine
Drama
Must Have More
Bad Things
Livin’ Large
I Came Back to Bitch
Shove
Mr. Integrity
Freak Magnet
Slide
Sh**list
— Encore —
Pretend We’re Dead
Fast and Frightening

One of the things that live music can be is cathartic. Over the last year plus, with everything that has happened in the Twin Cities, we have repeatedly talked about how artists and audiences alike have talked about how the concerts have served as a place of community. A place to feel safe, to be heard, to share an experience in solidarity. But it has also been a place of refuge and temporary escape, a way to let go of everything in the outside world and enjoy bands making music and fully embracing the experience. On Election Day of 2026, there was a lot of trepedstion and nervousness and those evening hours could have ticked by seemingly stuck in molasses if you were waiting for results. Instead, for a lucky set of fans, there was a completely different way to hurry the hours along, and I was part of the completely sold out crowd at Fine Line in Minneapolis to witness the joy of live music, as long time punk rock legends L7 were in town one last time.

Canadian punk rockers NOBRO got things going. The Montreal crew first formed in the mid 2010’s and dear reader, they are not screwing around. Their 2023 debut full length album, Set Your P***y Free, tells you everything you need to know about their in-your-face attitude. We last saw them at FIVE in Jacksonville in December 2025 and loved their set. The quintet (vocals/bass, guitar/vocals, guitar, keys/percussion, and drums) came to stage, and dear reader, did they come out hard and fast? You better believe it. That second number, Let’s Do Drugs, was ripping, with multiple members sing/yelling the oft repeated title refrain. Drums were intense and the guitarist on far left was shredding solos early on. NOBRO was on it and Set That P***y Free continued the hardcore vibe. I deeply appreciated the musical talent here, as punk bands can often be a little sloppy, and that was absolutely not the deal here. Vocals were hard edged but had enough vocalization to let there be actual harmonies and the guitar and bass work were brutal. A song in French had guitarist take lead and we had some true scream mode intertwined in that one. Raucous barely works as a descriptor here and the slowed down tempo for the instrumental section was very well played. The band called for a mosh pit and while it did form, it was perhaps the nicest and fairly low key one I’ve ever seen, which perhaps wasn’t surprising given the median age of the crowd. The theatrics continued to ramp up, with an audience member being brought up to record a number as the “music director”, shenanigans of one member pouring a drink into another members’s mouth (though hilariously, it was Sprite), and a wild finish that had the bassist lose the instrument and jump off the drum kit. NOBRO had set the crowd’s collective p***y free and this is a band that you need to go seek out immediately.

L7 was the near royalty that the sold out crowd was pumped up for. The band first formed in 1985, with their self-titled debut album released in 1988. They kept touring and releasing music and broke through with the huge hit song Pretend We’re Dead in 1992. They kept busy for the remainder of the 90’s, going on hiatus in 2001. But they got back together in 2014, and that seventh and final album, 2019’s Scatter the Rats, is an underrated gem of a punk album. The current tour is called The Last Hurrah Tour, and it has been extremely bittersweet as long time bassist Jennifer Finch passed away in July from brain cancer. They had a nice video compilation of behind the scenes footage before they hit stage, and then it was on. The quartet (vocals/guitar, vocals/guitar, bass, and drums) had a great start with Deathwish and with some minor help from some well placed fans on stage, L7 looked pure punk rock. Donita Sparks was brilliant and age has given a fantastic husky quality to those vocals that only made the songs rip harder. And the rest of the band was right there too. In fact, Suzanne Gardner was on vocals for Andres and she slayed. The first small break had a deeply felt round of applause for Finch but also led to a silly little side number for bassist Janis Tanaka (lyrics: “Janis Tanaka, she likes to rock-a”). Monster got both guitars crushing on the instrumental, and rolling into the brilliant Stadium West off the new album was tremendous sequencing as the pace rolled up, with drums from Dee Plakas so on point. We got a crew member on stage just to play cowbell on the appropriately titled Off the Wagon. Bitter Wine had Gardner in a near snarl vocally and the lower key song had the crowd enthralled. Tanaka was a beast on Drama and L7 was delivering, as another sporadic mosh pit broke out for a bit in the center of the crowd. A short break about their getting back together was the perfect set up for I Came Back to Bitch and the band’s pacing was stellar. Band intros filled a technical hiccup and then it was into a great version of Shove, with the dual vocals on the chorus. The trading of lead vocals between Sparks and Gardner throughout the evening was a real highlight and Gardner was in full punk mode for Freak Magnet and L7 rolled through the last part of their main set, ending in S***list, with Sparks nearly spitting those lyrics out and the great guitar and bass underneath. Out for the encore, Sparks got to let the crowd know how the outside world was going. She excitedly told us that one of the crew was from Texas and then screamed “and Texas just elected a woman governor!!”, which had the audience collectively release a wave of lent up emotion. It was a deep connection point, and truly set the stage for the big hit, and the crowd was up in full, boisterous sing along mode for a high paced version of Pretend We’re Dead. Ending on Fast and Frightening, L7 had brought a cathartic evening that let the crowd be caught up in the glory of the moment and then head out to catch up on everything happening in the world.