GREEN DAY
Tampa | late ’80s/early ’90s

Why it matters: Before Dookie made them superstars, Green Day played a handful of shows in the Tampa Bay area, like a legendary concert at the Brass Mug in 1993, and a 1994 show at Jannus Landing that became the Japanese-only EP Live Tracks. But two concerts stand out, because some heady Tampa fans thought to bring video cameras. Footage from a show thought to be from 1989 at the Paint Factory near downtown Tampa is one of the earliest circulating videos of singer Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist Mike Dirnt onstage together. Another video shot at Ybor City’s Star Club around 1991 features “new drummer” Tre Cool. The guys were skinny, sweaty and shirtless, but they still sounded tight.

1989 higlights: Before the show, then-drummer Al Sobrante tells the crowd that during a drive to Thoroughbred Music on Hillsborough Avenue, he left his black Converse sneakers in the back window of someone’s red Hyundai.

“If you could come up and just bring them to me sometime during the set, that would be great, because I need my shoes,” he says. At the end, Green Day’s set is cut short by a man Armstrong calls “officer.” Armstrong leaves the stage, but not before announcing that the band is selling T-shirts in the back for $6 apiece.

1991 highlights: Fans join the band onstage in Ybor’s hot, raucous Star Club. Armstrong introduces Tre Cool, who disappears mid-set for several minutes. But he returns to harmonize with Armstrong on a guitars-only Words I Might Have Ate. Armstrong praises the devotion of Green Day’s Tampa fans, but can’t help complaining about the heat: “Man, I’m hot. Welcome to Florida. Get eaten by an alligator. With an orange in its mouth.”

Sources: www.punkrockvideos.com, www.punksite.com, www.greenday.ic.cz

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