Dead Boys

Live In San Francisco (2024)

John Gentile

For all the wild stories of how great the Dead Boys were live, there is precious little quality documentation of said greatness. Sure, there is umpteen grainy videos, or bootlegs that sound like the band was playing the inside of a vacuum cleaner, or some less than stellar reunion shows, but where is the actual proof and not just some guy in a tatted leather jacket leaning back and saying, “yeaaah maaan… the Dead Boys were greeaaat.”

Well, here it is. Live in San Francisco might have been taken from a boot, but it has been cleaned up and, while it’s not as pristine as say, Judas Priest Unleashed in the East it sounds pretty damn good. And, even more importantly, the band sound great.

Sure, they are raw and ragged. But, they’re raw and ragged in just the right way so it sounds like the band will collapse at any moment, but they never actually do- so for all wild tales of the chaos caused by Stiv and Cheetah and Jimmy, was it mostly a put on? Here, tunes from the first album are perfected, but the band isn’t bored of them yet, so they crash from the early tunes in a sort of golden zone.

Of equal interest are the songs from the yet-to-be recorded second album- “son of sam” and “I won’t look back” do find the band leaning towards AM pop, but it’s a little more vicious here than on the studio counterparts… and by “vicious” I mean “way better.”

Still, the album does have some fun puzzles. It’s slated as being recorded at the Old Waldorf, but on the tape, Stiv talks about how much he loves being at the Mabuhay. Is this some weird joke? Is Stiv just confused? (apparently, for about a month, the band bounced between the two clubs). The other main puzzle is that, for as destructive and wanton as the debut LP was, the band did purposefully decide to get softer and more melodic even before meeting with producer Felix Pappalardi. The band’s debut was heralded in the punk scene from the onset, so it is mystifying to hear the band purposefully walk away from their best attributes, though as mentioned above, in the live setting, the blood was still there in the newer songs.

The fact is, this album is the first proper live audio document of one of punk’s most famous live acts during their prime. And, finally, there is proof that supports the band’s reputation. Yes, they were THAT GOOD live.