L7 – Fine Line – Minneapolis, MN – November 3, 2026

L7 (with NOBRO)  – November 3, 2026 at Fine Line, Minneapolis, MN

Review and photos by Jim Zons

No to get all political on you, but on election night in 2024, I was attending an election watch party at my favorite craft brewery in Wisconsin, and as the returns rolled in, I got more and more anxious, and then depressed, so this election day, I wanted to do something, ANTHING, other than watch the returns come in (still suffering PTSD from 2024.)  So when I saw that L7 was bringing their “Last Hurrah Tour” to the Fine Line in Minneapolis, I knew THIS was the place I wanted to be!

When I got to the Fine Line, the line stretched almost around the block in a light rain for this sold-out show (over 600 people were packed into the venue!) First up was NOBRO, a Canadian punk rock band from Montreal, featuring Kathryn McCaughey on vocals and bass, Karolane Carbonneau on vocals and guitar, Andy Silver on drums, Josée Caron on guitar and Tara Cohen on keys and percussion. All I can say is … WOW!  NOBRO reminded me so much of a young L7!  Their set consisted of hard driving punk rock with tons of energy.  This was the first time seeing NOBRO, but it won’t be the last;  I hope they come back to the Twin Cities soon!

Next up:  L7.  L7 is an all-female punk rock band that was founded by Donita Sparks (lead vocals and guitar) and Suzi Gardner (vocals and guitar) in 1985.  Joining Sparks and Gardner on tour in Minneapolis was Janis Tanaka on bass and Dee Plakas on drums.  L7 is calling this their “Last Hurrah” tour as they pay tribute to longtime bassist, Jennifer Finch, who passed away in July after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer.  As I mentioned, part of the reason for going to this concert was to escape following the election returns Tuesday night, but in some ways, that wasn’t going to be possible with such a politically active band as L7.  In 1991, L7 formed a pro-choice women’s rights group and concert series called “Rock for Choice” and lead singer Donita Sparks remains politically active today.  In fact, one of the first things she addressed at the start of the concert that she was holding out hope that the midterms were going to go very favorably for Democrats that night and returned to those sentiments on and off during the night.

Political activism is woven throughout punk music, and L7’s music is no exception, especially songs like 1992’s “Wargasm”, an anti-war song that Sparks mentioned that they weren’t planning on doing on this tour, but with Trump administration’s war of choice in Iran, they now needed to include it.  L7 is one of those bands whose catalog of music I wasn’t super familiar with, but it didn’t matter:  every song Tuesday night was a BANGER! The Fine Line is such a great venue to see a band in concert: it’s small and intimate and you can easily get right close to the stage.  In fact, Sparks mentioned how they were so used to barricades between the band and the concert goers and it was almost a little tough to get over the fact that the audience was right there!

With hard driving punk music, it was probably inevitable that a mosh pit formed several times; unfortunately, I wound up IN the pit several times (which wasn’t a lot of fun with $$$ expensive camera gear!) until I finally moved myself to the back of the venue (I might finally be too old for a mosh pit!)  Other than that, it was an AWESOME 90+ minutes of hard driving punk rock music, wrapping up with an encore featuring their biggest “hit” “Pretend We’re Dead” and the song “Fast and Frightening.”  And ultimately, I didn’t escape the election returns completely when at the end of the concert Sparks said that her guitar tech had just told her DEMOCRATS HAD WON TEXAS!!!! (She SCREAMED this!)  I couldn’t think of a better way to learn about historic election results than getting the news from the lead singer of L7!   This is the “Last Hurrah” tour for this iconic punk rock band;  if L7 has a stop anywhere near your location, make sure you catch this tour, especially if they’re playing in a venue as intimate as the Fine Line in Minneapolis.