Punk legend Jello Biafra made a triumphant return to the stage on Saturday at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall, only months after suffering a hemorrhagic stroke in March.
Biafra served as host of TentacleFest, put on by the former Dead Kennedys frontman’s own Alternative Tentacles Records. He also performed at the event with the band Wheelchair Sports Camp on the song “Make It Make Sense,” a track that features his guest vocals.
Alternative Tentacles commented on TentacleFest, as well as Biafra’s surprise appearance, posting the following on its social media pages along with video of his performance:
“Not only was TentacleFest was an amazing show, it also featured the return of Jello Biafra to the stage! Check out this clip of Jello coming out to sing ‘Make It Make Sense’ with Wheelchair Sports Camp! Thank you to Crisis Actor for the clip!
Huge thank you to everyone who came out to celebrate all things Alternative Tentacles with us! Thank you to the amazing Great American Music Hall for hosting us. Huge thank you to our amazing bands Wheelchair Sports Camp, Death Hymn Number Nine, Voodoo 5, Vic Bondi And His Issues, and Crisis Actor for their incredible performances! Where should we have the next one?”
Biafra suffered the stroke in March due to high blood pressure, stating at the time, “I hopped out of my bed because I needed to pee, and my left leg just collapsed under me and I fell to the floor. I couldn’t even break the fall with my left arm because it wasn’t working either. I tried to hop back up again, and I couldn’t. I realized I had “fallen and I can’t get up! It was this point I thought, ‘Oh shit, I’m having a stroke! I still have a lot of great stuff in me, but right now I gotta lotta of rehabbing to do.’”
An update in early May by Biafro’s Alternative Tentacles Records associate / personal assistant Anne-Marie Anderson read, in part, “Jello is progressing nicely. His speech has mostly come back in full, and cognitively, it’s like the stroke never happened. The left side is still weak but it is doing much better than it was.”
Watch Jello Biafra perform “Make It Make Sense” with Wheelchair Sports Camp in the video below.
