Green Day in
Belfast
Show Details
Location:
Ulster Hall in Belfast, Northern Ireland
Date:
January 20, 1998
Notes:
Architect Of Sound: "California punk rockers Green Day rolled into town in 1998 off the "Nimrod" tour, Billie Joe Armstrong sporting a menacing bleached blonde hairstyle, spitting on stage and hurling verbal abuse at the crowd. I can't think of any better way than spending your teenage years by going to a punk concert with your friends."
Belfast Newsletter: "At Green Day's 1998 Ulster Hall show, the trio thanked the Belfast Gig Collective from the stage and gave a shout-out to anyone who had been at the Richardson's gig. Considerably more than 100 people raised their hands."
Nicky: "I was there with my friends Chris, Paul and Ken. We started queueing at about 6:15 and there were quite a few people already. We skipped the queue and met up with more people we knew. A few of the lucky bastards we knew had been around the back door of the hall and had met Tre who gave them free t-shirts and backstage passes. The doors opened early and when we got in we had a few drinks from the bar and then went up a few people behind the front of the stage to wait for D Generation to come on. By the time they came on the place was totally packed and everyone near the front started moshing when D-Generation played. They were all right but after a while I got bored went over to the side to wait for Green Day to come on. When D Generation finished I went back up to the front and met up with my friends again. When the D Generation banner came down which was covering the Green Day banner everyone started cheering and soon after Green Day came on the stage. The crowd at the front went mad and started shoving like fuck. When they came on they didn't say a word and went straight in to Welcome To Paradise. It sounded class and loads of the crowd sang along. After the first song Billie said, "People asked me where did I wanna play and I said I wanna play in Belfast 'cause I haven't been there in a long fuckin' time. I'm no bullshitter, we haven't been to Belfast for 7 years so this is the first date of our European Tour." He also said the first thing he did when he got here was throwing up after getting drunk. He then put a tie on which someone had thrown onstage. Inbetween Knowledge Billie started asking the crowd who could play the guitar. The first guy who tried to play it was seriously shit so he got one more guy to come up to play Blue and told him if he couldn't play then everyone would kick his ass. The guy was quite good and they then got him to do a stage dive while Tre did a drum roll. The guy was quite big and stage dived right around where I was standing. Billie did other stuff like getting the crowd to sing along to stuff like The Beautiful People at the start of Longview and in between one song he asked for everybody to give him some clothes. Loads of people threw some clothes on the stage and Billie put them all on. He talked loads of crap to the crowd all night. Billie was throwing bottled water all over the crowd the whole time and near the end Billie, Mike and Tre then started spraying beer all over the crowd. I got covered in beer (everyone at the front did) and the guy beside me had beer in his eyes. It was pretty funny cause he was nearly ready to cry as he wiped his eyes. Before the last song Tre trashed the drums and he and Mike left the stage while Billie just screwed about with his guitar against the amp. He then played Good Riddance and everyone who knew it sang along. He then left the stage as well surprisingly enough. The concert was just the same as most of the other reviews I read but it did kick ass!"
Hugon: "Being a huge Green Day fan I was naturally excited to be going to see my favourite band and queued for over an hour before the doors opened in order to get a spot at the front near my heroes. Being glad to be let in out of the cold night outside, I took my place at the barrier and waited for the support act, D Generation to come on. They weren't anything special, but they where alright, something to jump around to and get ready for what was ahead. After half an hour D Generation finished with a song that I actually had heard before (it was in a film I seen once). The roadies came on and begun to bring on Green Day's kit. As the D Generation banner dropped down and we saw Green Day's banner it brought up a huge cheer.
After another half-hour Green Day came on stage to a huge Belfast welcome. Billie Joe had dyed blond hair, Mike had short hair and Tre was wearing a Nimrod T-shirt and shorts. Billie Joe stood on a flight case and lapped up the applause. They launched into the opening song and the moshpit went wild, jumping all over the place and the crowd-surfers started. This would be a good place to put in the setlist. After the first song, I had been knocked over and trampled a few times, so I went back a bit to get a bit of space to jumpa round in. Being further away from the band didn't hinder my enjoyment as I had more room to flail around and enjoy myself! Billie Joe was on top form. He requested clothes from the audience, and people threw clothes up on stage and he put them on, ending up with three or four layers of clothes. His best quote was 'We were here last at a gay festival five years ago, and I can see quite a few of you have come back again.' The intensity the band played with was fanatstic. They ripped through the songs, with a certain aggression it is only possible to obtain live. The highlight was probably them getting someone up on stage to help out with 'Knowledge'. I met the guy at the end and congratulated him. I was so jealous, he got to meet the band!
They played loads of my favourite songs, Bille was in top form and telling jokes and being funny all night.
It was a gig I wished would never end. I was tired, sweating and gasping for a drink, but I didn't go get one as I didn't want to miss anything. I came out with ringing ears and no voice left but I was really happy. I can't wait until I see Green Day again."
Photos from the Show
Setlist
1. Welcome To Paradise
2. Geek Stink Breath
3. Nice Guys Finish Last
4. Hitchin' A Ride
5. The Grouch
6. Chump
7. Longview
8. 2,000 Light Years Away
9. Brain Stew
10. Jaded
11. Knowledge (Operation Ivy cover)
12. Basket Case
13. She
14. F.O.D.
15. Paper Lanterns
16. Scattered
17. Prosthetic Head
18. When I Come Around
19. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
