Green Day in
Corpus Christi, TX
Show Details
Location:
Texas Sky Park in Corpus Christi, USA
Date:
May 1, 1998
Notes:
Josh Rodriguez: "I got free tickets to this concert. Told my baseball coach that I was going to my cousin's graduation from some small college."
Simon Cross: "That was my first concert too! I was there... Highly intoxicated on a couple things with my sister and best friends. It was a great show... And got to see Billy Joe in some girl's thong..."
John Lyles: "I remember being wracked with tension during Brain Stew, in anticipation of it leading into Jaded. And when it happened I made a shitload of people slam dance whether they wanted to or not."
Louis Edwin: "I remember Billie Joe Armstrong asking the crowd if someone knew how to play guitar and he picks this kid from the crowd and asks him, 'Where you from kid?' The kid says, 'Skidmore.' And Billie Joe asks, 'Where the fuck is Skidmore?' Good times."
John Bruce: "Singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong made an announcement early in Green Day's show Friday night at Texas Sky: 'I'm running for mayor of Corpus Christi.' Green Day won over its audience with a tight, 80-minute set of three-chord punk-pop. Choosing largely from their last three CDs, they proved an exciting live band, improving on their studio material. The night clearly belonged to Armstrong, whose energy was endless as he jumped around on stage and climbed on top of stacks of amps. He commanded the stage more like an emperor than a mayor, his arms outstretched like a punk Caesar. He and his band mates, bass player Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool, seemed to be enjoying themselves onstage and the excitement was infectious as the mostly teenage audience sang along enthusiastically. Dirnt is a versatile bass player, switching seamlessly from hardcore throb to jazz to shuffling country punk. And Cool hammered away with all the subtlety of, say, Keith Moon. Audience participation included chanting lyrics and body surfing. At one point Armstrong recruited a youth - introduced only as Andrew from Skidmore - from the audience to play guitar. Andrew crunched out the chords like a pro and for a finale dived off the stage into a sea of tattooed arms and earrings. The addition of a horn section was perplexing. A production element in the studio is one thing but, live, a muted trumpet and trombone sounded like kazoos and conjured the ghost of Benny Hill. Toward the end of five encores, Dirnt and Cool began to destroy the stage, knocking over drums and shooting guitars like torpedoes. Facing a stack of amplifiers, Armstrong, like a crazed emperor Nero, fiddled with the volume control on his guitar, engulfing the stage in a feedback-drenched wall of noise. Armstrong emerged from the rubble and, alone, sang Good Riddance: 'It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right. I hope you had the time of your life.'"
Photos from the Show
Setlist
1. Nice Guys Finish Last
2. Hitchin' A Ride
3. J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)
4. Geek Stink Breath
5. 2,000 Light Years Away
6. Longview
7. Brain Stew
8. Jaded
9. Knowledge (Operation Ivy cover)
10. Basket Case
11. She
12. Redundant
13. Scattered
14. Platypus (I Hate You)
15. King For A Day
16. When I Come Around
17. Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
