The Runaways Live

At the beginning of 1976, The Runaways signed a 5-year contract with Mercury Records and started preparing for recording their upcoming debut self-titled album, which was released on May 17th, 1976. During this period, the band started to be well known in local circles and managed to play concerts in more known venues and various high schools and universities.

Other concerts:

Along the mentioned concerts, another show at a local club called Boomer's was played, as well as one at the Esperanza High School in Anaheim and one at the Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley, California. For now, the dates or any other information about these performances remain unknown.

The Billboard International Talent Forum:

On June 1st, The Runaways appeared at the second Billboard International Talent Forum that took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Beverly Hills, California. Currently, it's unknown whether they did a live performance as well.

During the recording of the debut album, the record label started to think more seriously about touring and live performances. A new album needs to be properly promoted, right? So the first national tour was organized. The Runaways performed in 10 countries all over North America, and new concert dates have been added to the itinerary every now and then.

Set lists were composed mainly of songs from the first two studio albums, but their arrangement changed a bit - now all the songs sounded more complex. Cherie started using small choreographies during some songs, like the famous bloody one during the Dead End Justice.

Concerts typically started with California Paradise and Cherry Bomb - great choice to warm up the audience from the very beginning. For the encore, Dead End Justice was played, and before that, Johnny Guitar, which interestingly, was sung by Lita, so Cherie had some time to change her outfit for the last song.

When the 1st national tour ended, The Runaways returned to California for a few weeks break before they flew to Europe for an upcoming tour. During this time, only two concerts at the Starwood Club were performed.

The Runaways' first European tour started a little controversially because only a few days after arriving in England, the band was arrested by police for stealing the room keys and a hairdryer in the London's White House Hotel. Several upcoming and already sold-out concerts had to be cancelled at the last minute because of that.

After returning from Europe in the middle of the October, the band started to prepare a new material for the upcoming album - Queens Of Noise, which was planned to be released on January 7th, 1977. During this period, The Runaways performed only a few concerts in California.