Tour history:
The Runaways' concerts were organized rather chaotically, and especially during the first year, the band played concerts mostly in various local clubs across California. It was after the release of their debut self-titled album that the management started to think more seriously about the touring and live performances. For that reason, the concerts are sorted not just by the tour and the date of performance, but also by the album to which they are related, to make this timeline more clear. Please select a year to continue...
| Date: | Venue: | City: | Country: |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 12th | Phast Phreddie's parents' house | Torrance, California | USA |
| September 27th | Hilltop Theater | Tujunga, California | USA |
| September 28th | Whisky A Go Go | Los Angeles, California | USA |
| September 29th | Whisky A Go Go | Los Angeles, California | USA |
| October 13th | Whisky A Go Go | Los Angeles, California | USA |
| October 31st | South Coast Theater | Laguna Beach, California | USA |
| November 22nd | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 5th | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 6th | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 19th | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 20th | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 24th | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 25th | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 26th | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 27th | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| December 31st | Wild Man Sam's | Garden Groove, California | USA |
| Concerts: 16 | |||
As you can see, only a few concerts from this period were documented, although Kim Fowley once stated that The Runaways played 68 concerts before the famous January 28th concert at the Starwood. The Runaways existed only for a few weeks, and they were not signed to any record label yet, so Kim booked them to play numerous gigs at various local theaters, small clubs, and house parties.
We all do have heard the story of how The Runaways started. And although there were several memoirs written by members of the band, numerous interviews were made about this topic through the years, and even a few newspaper articles from the '70s pointing to this era of the band were found, each of them tells the story differently. All these sources were confusing the dates and venues all the time, and even people who attended some of these early concerts do not remember any details about these performances. That explains why there is so little information about The Runaways' concerts from 1975. It was really challenging to put together this list of the band's first performances, and even now, I can't tell for sure, that it's 100% correct. But it's as close as it can get.
There are some interesting stories, like the one from the November 1977 issue of the Back Door Man fanzine about a concert on the rooftop of some unknown apartment in Huntington Beach. It was supposedly the first gig with Cherie Currie as a lead singer and Peggy Foster as a bass player. The story tells that police came in during the show and broke it. The band then went to a club in Huntington Beach called the Wild Man Sam's to play another show at midnight. That was in late November, but the exact date remains unknown. The next week, Peggy left The Runaways...
It's worth mentioning that during this period, The Runaways played many songs that didn't make it to any of their albums and to this day remain unreleased. Good examples are Who Do You VooDoo or Me 'n You. But otherwise, the set lists were compiled from songs that were later released on their first two studio albums and some cover versions, like Lou Reed's Rock And Roll or The Troggs' Wild Thing - this was the only song sang by Sandy West. Since The Runaways had only one guitarist until October 1975, when Lita Ford joined the band, their early live performances were simple because Joan Jett was never a good solo guitar player. She was more of a rhythm player, and as you know, she was a great singer, and that's why she shared lead vocals with Micki Steele.
Changes in the band:
During these few months, the band's lineup changed several times. To make a long story short... Originally, the band was formed by Joan Jett and Sandy West in August 1975. After a few days, Micki Steele joined them in the role of lead singer and bass player. In October, Lita Ford became the fourth member of the group, a lead guitarist. A few weeks later, in early November, Micki Steele was fired from the band because she didn't have the right “rock 'n' roll look” according to Kim Fowley, the band's manager. She was replaced by Cherie Currie who became a new lead singer, and Peggy Foster, a new bass player. Peggy left the band after only a few weeks, in late November, and was replaced by Jackie Fox, who became a new bass player in early December 1975. Quite a lot of changes for such a short period of time...