Live In Concert - Green Day [an error occurred while processing this directive]

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GREEN DAY
With Special Guest
Superdrag


Reviewed By

Donn Jehs


Janus Landing
St. Petersburg, FL
11/03/97

Monday night is not your normal concert night, but the prospect of seeing one of the hottest bands around brought a large crowd of "Greenies" to an otherwise quiet venue. I'm sure more than a few folks called in 'sick' on Tuesday after a night of hard-driving music, body surfing, and imbibing of various alcoholic beverages.

The opening act, "Superdrag," featured another three piece band (although the bio lists four members) that is currently on their second album. They even played a tune or two from their planned album next March entitled "Antichrist." The lead singer, John Davis however, was in terrible voice (at least I hope that was not his regular voice} but they had some good songs and excellent music. His fellow guitarist, Brandon Fisher, looked like a young Art Garfunkel with his wild, frizzy hair, and Don Coffey Jr. was on drums. The fans gave them some grief as usually happens when they are impatient to hear the band they really came for. This was also the first time I'd seen the lead singer smoke a cigarette while performing - guess we know where the band's name came from. Some of the better songs were "Sucked Out," "Cynicality" and "Sold You An Alibi," from their current album, "Regretfully Yours," on Elektra.

With the opening act history, the fans began to chant "Green Day! Green Day!" After an astonishly short time, as between set activity goes, the stage was ready for the boys from Berkeley. They didn't waste any time, but got right down to making music. The surf was up, and there was more body surfing at this concert than any I've attended in the past (must be a California thing). After opening with "Resurrection" ( I can't pin down this song) they immediately moved on to songs from their latest release, "Nimrod," playing the opening three tracks in order.
Even though the album has been out barely a month, the third track, "Hitchin A Ride," has already charted in the top ten on Billboard, and the fans had the lyrics memorized and were singing along with the band. I'd been hearing that this album was not as good as the others but the live performance certainly gave evidence that this new album is going to do as well if not better than its predecessors.
Billie Joe Armstrong was in excellent voice and the sound system seemed to be better than usual or maybe it was just the band was better than usual.
In any case I was impressed by the sound from a three piece band. Mike Dirnt on bass was really hitting the music right on although like all bass players he seemed more removed and distant from the crowd. Tre Cool on drums had several solos and seemed really pumped.
But Billie Joe was the star teasing and egging on the crowd. As it was a cool night a lot of folks had dressed warmly and as the temperature rose they shed some layers and a lot of them found their way onstage where Billie draped himself like some punk version of the Arabian Nights complete with a burnoose of plaid shirt wrapped around his head.

They then played some tunes off their older albums "Dookie" and "Insomniac." During this part of the show Billie asked the audience if they could play the guitar. Of course they were all yelling yes as he asked, "One chord? Two chords? Three chords?" Whereupon he and a roadie picked and pulled one young man up from the crowd onto the stage to do just that! Talk about your 15 minutes of fame. There this kid was with Billie's guitar draped across his body and Billie giving him quick chord changes.

Apparently the kid chosen actually could play the guitar because after a few opening bars Billie left him on his own and began to sing. In fact, the kid was so into it he came upstage and started really jamming, to the delight of the crowd. For the most part he kept up too. Afterwards he prepared to exit off the back of the stage but the band would have none of it. The only way off was the way he came on, so after a couple of false starts he launched himself into the crowd.

The band then went into a rousing rendition of "F.O.D." and the crowd was roaring out the words to an obvious favorite. A quick return to "Nimrod" followed, with cuts including "King For A Day," a little ditty about crossdressing. Then, after what seemed like a hundred songs, it was over. That is, until the obligatory encore. But I'm sure the band needed a few minutes to regroup and catch their breath before returning to play a short final set which included "Prosthetichead" and finally winding it all up with their hit "When I Come Around." I'm sure the crowd wished they'd come around more often.





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