Husker Du thrashes San Francisco’s Mabuhay Gardens in 1981
In 1981, on a warm summer night when I was probably laying in my crib thinking about how I wanted to celebrate my 2nd birthday in a few weeks, Husker Du was just up the peninsula rocking the veritable old music venue in San Francisco’s North Beach at Mabuhay Gardens.
Nicknamed “Fab Mab,” the club hosted a number of important punk and new wave acts from 1976-1986, including the Dead Kennedys, The Avengers, Devo, Iggy Pop, Redd Kross, The Minutemen, Black Flag, The Ramones and Roky Erickson. This is a very early Husker Du show, when they were still relatively unknown. You can hear club promoter & booker Dirk Dirksen announcing the set: “Jello Biafra, while touring in the Northwest, ran across these people and asked me to book ‘em, so here they are, an addition to the program. Here’s . . . [sounds unsure of the pronunciation] Husker Du.”
And as the guy who made this available said, this is “one of the most intense live shows by ANY band you’ll ever find. I have no doubt in my mind that everyone who was there this night knew they were witnessing something very special. Any self-respecting punk fan needs to hear this one . . . Best played LOUD!” I agree.
HUSKER DU
July 24th or 25th, 1981
Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco
Introduction
All Tensed Up
Don’t Try To Call
I’m Not Interested
Sore Eyes
Wheels
Private Hell
Travel In The Opposite Car
Don’t Have A Life
Bricklayer
Tired Of Doing Things Your Way
Sexual Economics
Do You Remember?
Ultracore
Let’s Go Die
Data Control
ZIP: HÜSKER DÜ AT FAB MAB
Name: Heather Browne
This f***in’ slays! I totally would have gone to this show, but I was home teething. Thanks for the post!
Joel B — May 21, 2008 @ 10:17 pm
THANKSSSSS
It was so great to be 14 again …..
Charles C Stirk Jr — May 22, 2008 @ 12:04 pm
My favorite band. Thanks for that.
courtney — May 22, 2008 @ 1:29 pm
once again big up, thank you for yr swell site!
Anonymous — May 22, 2008 @ 7:18 pm
thanks muchly – this is like having a 2nd disk of “land speed record”, except that the definition in these recordings is probably better…
Anonymous — May 24, 2008 @ 8:47 am
I love you… no, I do. Thanks for this!
pablo2541 — May 24, 2008 @ 11:30 am
Outrageous , excellent – new (old) material ‘ Sore Eyes’ .
thank you for posting!
Anonymous — June 5, 2008 @ 10:06 am
I wasn’t in the crib, I was at the Mab. And they did indeed thrash the place.
nick — June 13, 2008 @ 12:33 am
Although these MP3′s seem like they’re disabled now I really enjoyed hearing this Husker show from this venue. Since I was 11 when the venue closed I didn’t have a chance to see ‘em as often as I’d liked. Great show and venue. Thanks for the post.
Graphic Design: Cincinnati, Ohio
Gargantuan Media — July 10, 2008 @ 10:42 am