Show Notes: Incomplete setlist

"Jeff Martin was chatted up the audience, promising a new Tea Party album in 2011, and recalling playing Calgary at Edgefest in 1998, headlining with The Foo Fighters and Green Day. Green Day had set equipment on fire during their set, which The Tea Party didn't need to do because of 'The Fire is in the Head'. Later he commented on rumors that have been spread about him, 'many of them true' but that he would 'ever, ever, ever lead you into Temptation,' their smash 1997 hit."

Colleen Hemsing: "I checked out Green Day's performance at Edgefest '98 in Calgary on July 9th and I must say it kicked ass. It even kicked God's ass. Billie Joe did his usual cussing, undressing, and proclamation of becoming mayor. But I think everyone was titillated when the band started Hitchin' A Ride and Billie spewed out the first 20 seconds of Marilyn Manson's The Beautiful People. It was exactly what everyone needed after hearing every other band there (ones like Econoline Crush, Tea Party, Sloan, Watchmen, Foo Fighters) try too hard to put on a live show that sounds worse than their recorded shit. At one point, Billie ordered the security guards to get the fuck out of the way as John (from Airdrie - 'boo,' born in Calgary - 'yay') was going to jump into the pit. It must be cool to be Green Day and have that power over people. Whenever Billie told us to yell fuck off at all the cops, we would do it. Hey, it was a green day. So, after the band displayed their power and awesome sounds, Billie mentioned how Canada has the best marijuana. With that note, they slammed their guitars, lit their drums on fire, sent off screeching alarms, and left everyone there in a state of befuddlement. Needless to say, The Tea Party left something to be desired (like spirit and a kickass set)."

Alberta Reports: "The job was easy: babysit Ben at the Edmonton stop of Edgefest ’98. Bernie supplied me with a ticket and little else. But how hard could this be? I accompany a 13 year-old metalhead wannabe to the biggest rock festival of the summer. Easy as cake. Held at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium, Edgefest had two stages, the main stage and the smaller Bear stage, to supply nearly nine hours of continual music. Then came Green Day. The masters of post-modern neo-punk anthems did not disappoint. Billie Joe Armstrong strutted the stage like he owned it; cavorting wildly, yelling profanely, and dropping his pants again for good measure. The audience ate up his crazy antics like candy, and rocked, jumped and moshed its collective head off as Green Day crunched its way through its three-chord catalogue. A highlight was Billie Joe declaring himself, 'the best fucking heavy fucking metal fucking guitarist in the fucking world,' and slipping into Black Sabbath’s Iron Man, then Metallica’s Enter Sandman, and even Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger, before slashing out the opening riff of his own Brain Stew. To close the show, the drummer set his drum kit on fire, the bass player tossed his bass onto the pyre before knocking over a speaker tower as Green Day’s horn section (dressed up as a bee and a yellow pepper) played Taps, while Billie Joe was crouched in front of his amps, calling on the gods of feedback to make us all deaf. Amazingly, he redeemed all this excess by sliding into the final song, the somber and reflective Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). If the name of the game was to entertain, then Green Day did just that, fully and completely. Neither Ben nor I give a damn about The Tea Party, so we left. We emerged unscathed, uninjured and with most of our hearing still intact. You can’t ask more than that, eh?"

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Verification Status:
Tour Statistics: Edgefest tour
Concert Reviews: 0