Dead Boys Live In San Francisco CD Review

Cleopatra Records has been on a tear lately with releases from the legendary Punk Rock band, The Dead Boys. And I don’t see a damned thing wrong with that. I feel like the Dead Boys have been forgotten and passed over when it comes to major label releases specifically when it comes to famed bootlegs, demos and so on. Not everyone digs soundboard recordings but for us fans that do, Cleopatra kills it with the upcoming release of The Dead Boys Live in San Franciso.

This is a classic live performance from when the band played at the Old Waldorf in 1977. I’ve had this bootleg for several years now, it’s one of the better one’s available. It’s nice to see it finally released legitimately and on colored vinyl too! Frontman Stiv Bators live performances were always off the rails and this one is no different, he snarls and whips the crowd into a frenzy all throughout the show. I can only imagine what it was like to be up front at the show, Stiv was a beautiful lunatic! The band rips through the classics “All this and more”, “Sonic Reducer”, “Caught with the meat in your mouth” and “Not Anymore” as well as several others from the band’s storied discography. Also included here is the band’s take on The Stooges classic “Search and Destroy”. This one is worth the price of admission alone!!!

I’ve been a fan of The Dead Boys all my life it seems, so there’s no such thing as too much Dead Boys, not even close! I hope Cleopatra Records and Cheetah keep on releasing these albums, there’s just not enough Dead Boys material out. The band was here and gone in a flash, but they left an indelible mark on Punk Rock history.  

~Black Angel