Two weeks after their demo had been first played on Rodney on the Roq, they were supposed to play at Joey Kills Bar in Burbank, CA for their debut live show. But even though a group of around 40 fans turned up, the club's manager didn't. By 11 p.m it was apparent that no one would be playing that night. Jay Bentley: "Maybe we should've gotten the hint."^[1]

So instead, their first appearance was opening for Social Distortion (of which this was their third show) in a warehouse in Fullerton, California in 1980.^[2] They had six or seven songs and played them twice. This was about a month after the band had practiced for the first time.^[3]

Brett Gurewitz: "I remember my friend Tom Clement said, “You guys are really good, just don’t break up.”^[4]

Greg Graffin: "I was nervous as hell. I wasn’t able to focus on the audience at all because I was scared shitless. I thought they were going to hate me. All the classic insecurities of my teenage life were wrapped up in that performance. Ultimately, I considered it a success because we didn’t get beaten up and nobody threw their shoes at us."^[5]

Jay: "I threw up the first show before we played, but I played!"^[6]

The second show was on November 20, 1980 in a USC Frat House Party with the Circle Jerks. Greg Hetson: "The Germs didn't play, but Darby Crash was there. I knew Bad Religion for a while and when the Frat asked us (Circle Jerks) to play, we got BR to open 'cause they had a PA and we didn't."

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