Details
Location:
Captain Cook Hotel in Paddington, QLD
Date:
February 20, 2014
Notes:
- Billie Joe Armstrong: "Hello, Aussie! Green Day is playing tonight at a club called Captain Cook Hotel in Sydney. I repeat, TONIGHT! February 20th, around 11:00 PM."
- ABC: "Green Day surprised Sydney fans with a top-secret headlining show last night. Following a tweet and an Instagram post from the band at 10:30 last night, fans were given just half an hour to get to the Captain Cook Hotel - a 200 capacity venue in Paddington - for the surprise set from this year's Soundwave festival headliners. Taking the stage dressed in traditional garb - black shirts, black jeans, black shoes and black hair - the band joked about how the crowd 'must have seen the tweet,' before launching into a twelve-song, hourlong set that, on the whole, erred toward the earlier albums in their catalogue: Dookie, Insomniac and Nimrod. Speaking with Triple J's music news team afterward, concertgoer William Riggs confirmed that the band were 'sick, aye', adding that 'seeing them in such a small venue made it that much better. The atmosphere was incredible - I couldn't have asked for a better set. It was something unpredictable, I'll give you that.' Other highlights included the guitarist in the support band playing a signature Billie Joe Armstrong guitar (cute!), bassist Mike Dirnt pouring a jug of cider over a very sweaty front row, and the whole crowd forming the human equivalent of a rat king as the chorus to American Idiot kicked in. Green Day will be in Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth real soon as a part of this year's Soundwave Festival tour. Keep your eyes on their social media pages for any other small show tip-offs."
- NME: "Green Day played a secret show in a pub in Sydney, Australia last night. The gig, which took place at Captain Cook Hotel in the Australian city, was announced just hours before it began with fans forced to dash to the venue in order to gain entry. Green Day are currently on a tour of larger venues in Australia and will headline the Soundwave Festival on Sunday.
The gig was organised by Captain Cook Hotel owner Darren Wood, Inferno Music instrument-supplier boss Tim Davy and author of the My Sydney Riot blog Ray Lalotoa. 'It happened in all of about five minutes,' Lalotoa told The Daily Telegraph Australia. 'Green Day came and checked it out and said, 'This is going to work, we're 99 per cent going to play', and just said, 'Don't tell anyone about it'.' Stepping onto the tiny stage, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong reportedly said: 'I guess a few of you saw the tweet,' before playing a set consisting of newer material, fan favourites and requests from the audience. The short set concluded with American Idiot."
Setlist
1. 99 Revolutions
2. Know Your Enemy
3. Nice Guys Finish Last
4. Holiday
5. Stuck With Me
6. Burnout
7. Chump
8. Longview
9. Rusty James
10. Brain Stew
11. St. Jimmy
Encore
12. American Idiot
Previous Show
