Show Notes: troublegum_uk: "I was kind of going off this whole thing by this point, but the nail in the coffin was this gig. They finished around 9:30pm and when the crowd booed, they said they had families to look after backstage - how punk! Green Day - support: Riverdales - 20th Sept. 1995 - Brixton Academy - £8"

Kerrang!: "Green Day came on early. A conspicuously inconspicuous entrance which had you going, 'Is that them or the support act?' But Welcome To Paradise was the perfect 'How are ya?' for the rowdy atmosphere permeatin' the old Academy tonight. Why, in my day, children, punky types at gigs went around with empty glasses, cadgin' a drop or two from those tager a-plenty. But it was actually nice to discover that Green Day fans are so well off, they can launch half-pints of the precious golden beverage skywards! Then again, who really knows what the true consistency of all those droplets really were - at one point bassist Mike Dirnt did encourage the people on the balcony to gob on those downstairs... Singer/guitarist/hair colour experimentalist Billie Joe Armstrong announces that his band were 'shit at Reading' and that they were gonna make up for it tonight. And a fun-packed and frenetic show it was. If you merely owned Dookie, you were only in for a handful of alien encounters. Like 2,000 Light Years Away from the Kerplunk! album, for example. And I only know that, cos Billie Boy graciously informed us! But cool was the suckerpunch pause that exploded into Basket Case. 'Course it's no New Rose or Blitzkrieg Bop, but it's a fab wee slice of crunch Pop. Well, no complaints from the spaghetti of limbs down the front, anyway. But more than anything, you had to get off on the personal touch Green Day offer, Billie is forever casually chatting and playfully taunting, or playing impromptu snatches of... well, London Bridge Is Falling Down, for one. Anarchy in the UK indeed. Still, when Green Day did manage to get it together, there were some geniunely tasty bits. Even their goofing off on Survivor's Eye Of The Tiger failed miserably to disguise the fact that they could actually play the song. The infectious When I Come Around was aired in the clutch of encorial delights, yet the show stealer for me was drummer Tre Cool picking up a guitar and going all out nerd overkill on Dookie's unlisted-final-song, All By Myself. Classic! Hey, now forget New Rose and Blitzkrieg Bop... Good gig. Shame it ended with many gapin' at the stage with jaws wrapped around their ankles, trying to fathom why Green Day waved bye-bye at a terrifyingly sober 9.15pm..."

Opening Band(s): The Riverdales