Green Day & Superdrag, Lupo's, July 26, 1997

Still immensely popular with the 14-18 year old sect, Green Day has managed to grow older while maintaining the energy level they've always had.This show was an all ages sell out with plenty of all agers trying to survive up front while thier parrents watched from the back. The pit wasn't the most dangerous I've ever seen, but it did start up the second Green Day started playing and didn't stop till the end. Lots of little kids were in the fray, but nobody got hurt as far as I saw.

Billie Joe may be a father now, but he still isn't the best roll model. He made sure to tell everybody that he thinks benefit festivals like the Tibet Freedom Concrt and the H.O.R.D.E thing are bullshit becasue rock and roll is "about getting fuck ed up and listening to mucic, not some stupid hippie shit." He also asked how many guys had little cocks, then told them not to worry it was normal.

Green Day was cool enough to make sure there were tons of speakers pointed every which way so that you could hear from every direction, even if you couldn't really see. As the show went on I got maved further back but the sound was always excellen t which was refreshing.

Although Green Day has a new CD out, "Nimrod," they played a good mix of their old stuff and weren't shy about playing the hits from "Dookie." Of corse its easier to play a big mix of songs if all of them are under three minutes, but they really t ried to keep it fun for everybody.

I copied the set list off the stage so I wouldn't have to take notes the whole time. It went: "Going to Pasquala," "Welcome to Paradise," "Geek Stink Breath," "Nice Guys Finnish Last," "Hitching a Ride," "The Grouch," "Chump," "Longview," "2000 L ight Years Away," "Jaded," "Knowledge," "Basket Case," "She," "FOD," "Paper Lanterns." For encores they did: "Scattered," "Prosthetic Head," "When I Come Around," and "Good Riddance."

Green Day may be a punk band at heart, but part of the reason they've become so popular is they write great rock and roll hooks. The new stuff rom "Nimrod" is just as rock and roll as "Dookie" was, so its easy for people to like it even if they ha ven't bought the CD yet or had it force fed to them over the radio airways.

Billie Joe didn't strip down and flash dick like he used to, instead he satrted asking for people to throw shirts and hats at him so he could wear them all at once and loose some weight sweating. The band did sprinkle the pit with lots of water to keep them cool, and had plenty of room to run around since they don't take up too much space with huge drum kits or anything.

To keep things real Billie Joe now invites somebody up to play "Knowledge," on his guitar to show that anybody can be in a punk band. He may have grown out of Gilman, but they still try to keep their punk hearts pure. It was actually a great time for everybody. The Docker dads in the back knew the words to some of the songs, and their kids danced around in relative safety.

The drinking folks gathered as close to the bar as possible, while the pit freaks moved u p front. Everybody staked out their space and did their best to hold on for the ride. The close confines at Lupo's only made the show better. Last time Green Day was around they played Worcester Centrum, and on this tour they moved the show from Boston to the Worcester Centrum again, so it was really their only New England club app erance. It was hot as hell, but totally worth it.