Show Notes: Mitch Schneider, Amanda Cagan: "For Green Day, the madness continues. At the HFStival at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC, the band stole the show by playing a reliably maniacal set in front of 60,000 people before capping things off with a special touch. Let the Washington Post pick up the story: 'Green Day's lead singer, Billie Joe Armstrong, donned a mask for a crowd-pleasing spoof of shock-rock ghoul Marilyn Manson and later stripped down to leopard-print bikini panties. It seemed as if the entire stadium sang along to the anthem of self-loathing Basket Case, and after a spectacularly pyromaniacal closing in which the band set its drum kit and guitars on fire, Armstrong managed to pull off the relatively quiet and reflective Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).'"

MTV: "In a sign of spring as recognizable as melting snow or beer-cradling beach-bound college students, the annual radio station-sponsored love-in known as the WHFStival is back, this time with Green Day, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Foo Fighters, Everclear, Marcy Playground and many more. The rite of spring will take place on May 16 at its usual haunt, RFK Stadium in Washington, and will also feature performances by God Lives Underwater, Crystal Method, Semisonic, Soul Coughing, Save Ferris, Fastball, Barenaked Ladies, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and Harvey Danger. Organizers say that more artists will be announced soon. Tickets for the show are $25 and are available through TicketMaster with some portion of the proceeds going to the Milarepa Fund to aid the Tibetan people in their non-violent struggle against their oppression at the hands of the Chinese government."

Rolling Stone: "Making the Crystal Method go on stage at R.F.K. Stadium's HFStival in Washington, D.C., after what Green Day did to it was cruel and unusual punishment. Theirs was a performance that will age well and prove more vigorous, more audacious and more felonious as it evolves into urban legend. Today, it was, 'did you see Tre Cool torch his drum set, Billie Joe Armstrong strip to his leopard-skin bikini briefs and that pimply-faced mosher jam with the band?' In ten years, the drummer for Green Day will have pulverized his drums and shot flares into the crowd, Billie Joe will be naked and urinating on security guards, and an overzealous fan will be heisting guitars. It was that good. 'We never plan to do shit,' Tre said after the band's set, waiting for a fire marshall to potentially come-a-callin', 'but we always keep the implements of our destruction on hand in case need be. I had an ax and other things.' Tre stood in front of his drum kit like a priest performing an exorcism, doused it with lighter fluid, and watched in glory as the flames grew. With studied ambivalence, Billie Joe walked up to the mic and performed the only song he could with the rest of the instruments in various states of ruin: the guitar ballad Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). The song's line 'It's something unpredictable, but in the end is right / I hope you had the time of your life' proved a fitting explanation for the wreckage ... and a modest farewell. Earlier, while covering Operation Ivy's Knowledge, Billie Joe voir dired the mosh pit, looking for a young hack who could adequately play the song's guitar line, so the ax-wielding frontman would be free to roam. After a two-minute search, Dave the Fan, wearing a 'Porn Star' T-shirt squirted through the pit and hopped on stage, where Billie Joe greeted him with a full kiss on the mouth. For the next few minutes, Tre and Mike supplied the backbeat while Billie Joe taught Dave how to play the song. 'If you suck, everyone here is gonna kick your ass,' Billie Joe said. He didn't, and even if he did, Green Day's chutzpah negated him. Not that a few performers didn't give Green Day a run for the benjamins. Wyclef Jean, joined on-stage by fellow Fugee Pras and the hip-hop flava of the month, Canibus, baptized 'rip-rock.' 'A lot of kids try to do it, but the fusion's not right,' he said before his set. 'We gonna combine street hip-hop with straight-up rock, but the lyrics are straight deadly street, you know what I mean?' Sure, why not."

Starsailgirl: "Green Day - I was thoroughly surprised at how good they were. They did all their hits, like Hitchin' a Ride, Longview, Basket Case, When I Come Around, Brainstew/Jaded, Welcome to Paradise, etc.. They did some funny stuff too. Billie Joe put on this devil mask and was like "the beautiful people, the beautiful people!" lol. He also dropped his pants...and then they set the stage on fire before Time Of Your Life (Good Riddance). Overall, they were good. They really interacted with the crowd."

Lamar: "Well i was fortunate enough to be one of the 60,000+ people at the HFSestival. And I was only there for Green day of course, they have been my favorite band for about 7 years now..and i had never seen them live before. So anyways heres how the show went down. After like 12 bands and about 13 hours of music..it was finally 8:30 and green day was about to come on. I can't remember if whip it was playing..but a SouthPark show was playing right before they came on. As soon as the big white "Green Day" flag thingy came up on stage..Mike came running out and says "Hey..how the fuck are ya?!" and Tre and Billie come running out also. They immiediatly start up playing Nice guys finish last, and go through most of the usual stuff that has been mentioned here in the past nimrod tour reviews. They did the whole "geta guy from the crowd for knowledge and make him do a stage dive" and chant The beautiful people song. I knocked some good looking girl over during Jaded..i felt bad about that, but she just got right back up and was slammin around. But the coolest part, which you may have heard
about on the message board right after the Festival, was at the end when they trashed the stage..Tre ran off stage..and comes running back on, with a small white bottle..which everyone soon realizes is lighter fluid. He squirts it all over the broken drums and ignites the huge pile..which immidietly catch on fire..meanwhile Mike threw in his red bass and the pickups were blowing up which was really loud. Billie starts playing Good riddence with a fire about 15 feet behind him, while the staff for the show was trying to put it out. It was by far the coolest show ive ever seen, even though there were no fights..nor did i meet the guys afterwards. They just kicked so much ass its hard to explain. Billie Joe knows how to get the crowd so fired up in the moment. I hope they will come by soon around the DC/Maryland/Virginia area so i can see them again. The set, if i remember it correct was like this:

Nice guys finish last
Hitchin a Ride
Geek Stink Breath
Longview
She
Welcome to Paradise
Brainstew
Jaded
Knowledge
Basket Case
King for a Day
Good riddence

(billie joe also played bits of Ironman by black sabbath, and Sanitarium (i think it was that, not sure though) by Metallica)"