Location:
Slim's in San Francisco, USA
Date:
February 17, 1994
Notes:
Incomplete setlist
Lorange Blog: "Though I was very aware of Green Day in the local Berkeley scene, my first show was not until the evening before the album Dookie (their first major label release) came out. By the end of the night I was up against the stage watching the band and near the film crew capturing the set. All these years I never knew what was done with that footage so after a little googling I found information off greendayvideos.com pointing me to the UK-only Welcome To Paradise video off iTunes. At $1.99 I had to buy it just to make sure that young kid in the 30-second preview was me."
Bob Sarles: "The first was Longview the video that broke the band on MTV. That video was directed by Mark Kohr and produced by Commotion Pictures. The second video, produced not long after that was Welcome To Paradise. It was produced also by Commotion Pictures and directed by Robert Caruso, and paid for by Warner Bros. The video was shot in 16mm film at a Green Day performance in San Francisco in 1994. We used footage shot during the soundcheck and the show. The band played live, but the footage was edited to the CD track of the song. For some reason MTV did not put the video into rotation. It may have been shown in Europe, but not in the USA. I was very happy to have edited Longview, which was a big success."
Rolling Stone: "On February 1st [17th], 1994, Green Day celebrated the release of their third album, Dookie with a trip across the bay from their home ... to play at the San Francisco club Slim's. Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong was nervous that night, but it had nothing to do with Dookie being his band's first release on a major label, Reprise. It was because Green Day were on a bill with the Dead Milkmen, a comic-punk band that was hot in the 80's thanks to cult hits like Bitchin' Camaro. 'I remember thinking, 'I don't wanna play after these guys - they have good songs,'' Armstrong says. In fact, at that moment, Green Day - Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool, all 21 - were loaded with better tunes: the 14 incendiary devices on Dookie, including the high-speed freakout Basket Case and the desperately bored anthems Burnout and Longview. They were true stories - 'a journal,' Armstrong, the band's driving lyricist, says, of 'whatever was on my mind, about what it's like to live as a street kid.' At Slim's, Green Day tore through the new songs with lunatic glee. The 500-person crowd's reaction was immediate and a little scary, an unhinged euphoria of crowd-surfing and slam-dancing caught in a video for the single Welcome to Paradise, shot at the club that night. 'People were geniunely bursting with energy,' Armstrong, now 42, recalls, 'as if they wanted to be a part of something but nobody knew what it was. We didn't either.'"
Maiko Hara: "The Slime's, oops, The Slim's is a fascist club in San Francisco with macho bouncers who physically and verbally abuse people. Green Day were a bit tighter musically compared to the Santa Cruz show. Much less goofing off in middle of songs. Their set was basically identical to the last show's, except they didn't play Disappearing Boy (bummer), played Basket Case instead of Coming Clean (both from Dookie), and Tre did the hidden track on Dookie in addition to Dominated Love Slave. They did Rock You Like A Hurricane and Eye Of The Tiger also. (Billie Joe said that was the last time they'd play the song, but who knows.) The highlight of the show was pyrotechnics - well, sort of. Billie Joe burned the BAM with Green Day on the cover and also the San Francisco Chronicle pink pages with their story. When he tried to burn a copy of Maximum Rocknroll, the Slim's owner stopped him, inciting the crowd to boo and chant, 'Bullshit!' Other nitty gritty details: one of the roadies handed Billie Joe a roach from which he took a drag, and passed on to someone in the crowd. Mike said it was tobacco. Lots of bouncer abuse! Tre kicked a bouncer in the head during Dominated Love Slave (how appropriate). Billie Joe squirted a bouncer in the face with the 'Dookie Gun' and shoved him into the crowd. Mike did a stagedive and subjected himself to lots of groping hands. Some improvised lyrics on Road To Acceptance (which I couldn't make out) and Burnout (I'm just selling out). Mike's hair was blue, matching his bright blue pants. Overall, a great show yet again. I wish they didn't repeat the set from the night before, but oh well. The burning of the icons made up for it."
