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ICP
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01/09/00 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
01/10/00 - Chicago, IL - House of Blues
01/13/00 - Washington D.C. - Nation
01/14/00 - Philadelphia, PA - Theatre of Living Arts
01/18/00 - Pittsburgh, PA - Metropol
01/21/00 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall
01/27/00 - Knoxville, TN - Electric Ballroom
01/28/00 - Nashville, TN - 328 Performance Hall
More dates will be posted as they come...
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Green Day
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Why does anyone buy a ticket to see Green Day on their Nimrod tour?
It couldn't be less complicated.
Finding themselves before yet another tightly packed throng, this time at the historic Roseland Ballroom, the Bay Area trio proved their commitment to good clean fun and reckless horseplay. For the audience, the set offered a chance to take Green Day at high energy face value for ninety minutes-plus, not to mention the opportunity to make up for all those skipped gym classes.
From the opening jolt of "Going To Pasalacqua" ("39/Smooth") the band feverishly powered their way through a catalog of hits, near hits, and longtime favorites - from "2,000 Light Years Away" to "Welcome To Paradise," "Longview," "Basket Case," "Geek Stink Breath," and reputation-renewing '97 pop-punkers such as "Prosthetic Head" and "Hitchin' A Ride."
On Nimrod, the group's fifth album, Billie Joe employs his nasal, staccato phrasings to express fears of a blank future defined by question marks ("Worry Rock") and feelings of being stuck in life's squeaky, repetitive hamster wheel ("Redundant"). On the upbeat, rhythmic "The Grouch," the singer/guitarist confesses the newly felt perils of being a "shi**y old man"; in the light of the band's exceptionally raucous, aerobically challenging performance, any Geritol & orthopedic fears are proved much exaggerated.
The Roseland show was, in fact, the band's second appearance in New York that week. A riotous in-store performance at the downtown Tower Records the previous day led to thousands-of-dollars in damages and reports of one lewd nude Billie Joe. File it in the Green Day annals alongside the Woodstock mud fling and an arrest-filled Boston debacle.
In their instinctual attraction to such scenes, Green Day still have more in common with the fans on the floor than most of today's popular combos: One lucky ticket holder was invited onstage to take over guitar duties on their cover of Operation Ivy's "Knowledge"; Between songs, Billie Joe recalled meeting numerous junior high-aged fans, nervously accompanied by their parents, during the days of the multi-platinum "Dookie." Now, nearly four years later, he commends those same fans for being... "so f**ked up." The crowd cheered. It was a moment for bonding.
Everything came crashing down with a farewell toppling of amps and drummer Tre Cool, in the role of Keith Moon, trashing his kit with such focused thoroughness that not a cymbal was left in its original shape. Billie Joe presided over the stage destruction with the set-ending solo/electric number "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" - a Green Day "Happy Trails" if ever there was one.
Though they'd just come off a brilliantly sweaty set at the Knitting Factory some two months ago, openers Superdrag never managed to sound as good as they could. Not an easy job, standing on in front of the multitudes anxious for nothing but Billie Joe & Co. The Knoxville quartet learned things about their mothers they never suspected. But with the inferior sound traditionally bestowed on most 8:30 start-ups, the quartet was swinging with one guitar tied behind their back. Even as they fought their way through tracks from their near-perfect 1996 album, "Regretfully Yours," most of the Superdrag sound had turned to watery oatmeal by the time it hit audience ears. Regardless, newly unveiled songs from their forthcoming spring '98 album - most notably the riff-driven "Sold You An Alibi" - revealed that top pop is still to come from Superdrag.
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