Venue: The Observatory
City: Santa Ana, CA
Set length: About an hour
Tonight’s Lineup:
-
The Vermin 9:15 PM
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CH3 10:00 PM
-
7 Seconds 11:00 PM
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The Adolescents 12:00 PM
Pre-show banter…
Kimm reached out and said that they were playing with 7 Seconds and The Adolescents at the old Galaxy venue (now called The Observatory) and asked if I wanted to come down and hang out with the family. I’m in!
My gear for the night was:
- Camera: Canon 5D Mark III
- Flash: None
- Lenses: Canon 200mm f/2.8 and Canon’s 24-70mm f/2.8, 15mm f/2.8.
Venue Review…
I’ve been shooting here for years and have always had a lot of fun photographing the bands at this venue. Word of advice, get here early if you want to park in the venue lot because if not you will have a little walking to do. Great venue, decent sound, decent lighting (except for the occasional oversaturated LEDs), cool staff, never a hassle, ‘nough said!
It is located at:
www.ObservatoryOC.com in Santa Ana
Reviews, comments, and possible putdowns for 7 Seconds…
Finally, I get my chance to see local Reno comrades Kevin Seconds and Steve Youth!! Reno was where I spent my High School years and, other than huge shows at the Lawlor Events Center, I just don’t recall much going on musically. Perhaps I was just not in with the cool crowd, or really lame for not seeking out local gigs, but I really didn’t know about a local punk rock scene… until I started seeing the 7 Seconds name spray-painted here and there around town, visit https://www.paintxservices.com/. It is a visual I have embedded in my head so the name has been in there since the early 80’s, so it was only natural that I would ask friends like Scott Feld or Ben’s sister (can’t remember her name) about this 7-Seconds band. I still have a beat-up cassette floating around somewhere mixed in with all my Metal and Hard Rock tapes – I’ll seek it out and post a photo one day. Anyway, it only took 30+ years to put the spray painted image next to the real thing, and they did not disappoint! I would say that they were the favorite here this evening. I am stating this solely based on crowd reaction, although The Adolescents did get the crowd going pretty well, as well.
7 Seconds played through a ton of material, and I wish I had a photo of the setlist, and I am going to guess that they ripped through 20 to 25 songs in tonight’s set. If you’ve never heard of this band and want to check them out, one of my favorites is their 2000 release “Scream Real Loud, Live.” This album will give you their sound, cause, vibe, aura, whatever you want to call it. Check them out and please go support a really fun band to see live.
Cheers…
2018 update… Kevin has released a statement on his facebook page announcing that the band is officially no more. Very sad to hear because they were so good. But, all things must come to an end at some point so let’s just celebrate the time that we’ve had with them. What a great run!
