Location:
Helsingin Jäähalli in Helsinki, Finland
Date:
August 31, 1995
Notes:
Junoven: "A half hour after the Riverdales left the stage, it was time for Green Day. As the stars of the day walked onto the stage, the audience went nuts, screaming and clapping. I could not hear what Billie Joe Armstrong said before they started the first song, which, by the way, I did not recognize. They had pumped up the volume a bit, so the echo wasn't a problem anymore. But now the volume was so loud that because of the poor acoustics, it sounded like Sonic Youth playing Green Day songs. Pure guitar noise to a drum beat. And singing. The second song was 'Welcome To Paradise', and either they had lowered the volume a bit or my ears had adjusted to it. Now I could understand the lyrics, and the noise wasn't so bad (but it was still bad).
They stopped playing and Armstrong asked, 'Can you say FUCK YOU?' Stupid question, of course we could. After a couple of more songs, Armstrong talked some more, but the audience was so noisy it was impossible to make out the words. Then more songs. And then Armstrong started talking again. He pointed at me (well, I guess he meant everybody in the same side of the hall) and said, 'OK, now, say FUCK YOU to those guys there,' and he then pointed at the other side of the hall. And we did what he said. And after everyone had said 'fuck you' to everyone, he said, 'Good, now everybody fight!' And it looked like some people in front of the stage did! About half an hour (or something like that) after beginning, they finally did what everybody was obviously expecting. They started playing "Basket Case", and now, for the first time after they had walked to the stage, the audience got really wild! Shouting (no boos, but hoorays and screaming, etc.) and dancing (not me though). They played only 50 minutes, first about 45 and then, after a minute of we want more's, they played two more songs, before leaving. And just before they left, Armstrong said, 'Fuck.' Was that his opinion of the gig or did he order the audience to fuck? During the show (it really was more like a show than a concert), Armstrong did several times this interesting (some might say disgusting) spitting thing. He spitted directly upwards, and then caught the spit in his mouth. A couple of times the spit however landed on his face, and he had to wipe it clean with his shirt. Also, someone in front of the stage threw a shirt straight onto Armstrong’s head. It stayed there for a moment, covering his face, then dropped to the floor – he didn’t do anything to take it off, just kept singing. All in all, it was a disappointing show. Maybe if I could have been in the front row. Afterwards, when heading back home, I heard lots of people saying that it was a shit gig or too short. I think it was a bit of both. For the price of the ticket, I might have been able to buy a couple of their albums and/or some singles from a second hand shop."
