Details
Location:
Barron's Beach Club in Allentown, PA
Date:
July 30, 1994
Other Acts:
Pansy Division
Notes:
- Incomplete setlist
- Recordings from this show can be found [url=http://www.greendaycommunity.org/topic/95651-19940730-barrons-beach-club-allentown-pennsylvania-usa/]here[/url]
- Alec Sarkas: "I had been living at home with my parents after college in the early to mid 90's. In that time I had a lot of jobs: tent guard, food court janitor, retailer, etc. Rarely anything I was working on had anything to do with graphic design. There were even periods of time when I was unemployed. So, I would live off my savings — and I never asked my parents for money. I, in turn, had a lot of free time and watched a great deal of MTV. MTV started playing this video of Green Day and I became a fan. My friend Cindy liked the same video too. Months later we went to see them at Barron's Beach Club in Allentown, PA. After the show we somehow got to meet Green Day and then Pansy Division. In all this scuffle Valerie appeared there right after the show. I was surprised to see her there. Green Day was too mainstream for Valerie, even though they weren’t huge stars yet. I remember hugging her. I could feel the cold plastic of her clothes coupled with her warm skin. I hadn’t seen her for some time. She was laughing off being around Green Day. She was saying stuff like, 'I don’t want to be a groupie,' in between taking puffs of her cigarette. It was always like Valerie to go against what was around her. My friend took a lot of pictures during and after the show. She gave me the duplicates. After scanning them over a second time I noticed Valerie was in one of the shots. Unfortunately she is sweeping away her hair and holding something with the same hand, so you can’t see her face. As far as I know, this is the only picture I have of Valerie. When I was on my lunch break and walking outside today, I could see this woman sitting in the middle of this huge field of grass in the park. She was tan, blonde and heavyset. She looked nothing like Valerie except for her heavy black eyeliner from a great distance. I imagined for a moment if that woman could be Valerie what would I do or say. Tears welled up in my eyes. I was listening to New Order's 'Substance' on my iPod. I took a deep breath, looked up past the tree tops into the sky as I kept walking."
- Frank Pearn, Jr.: "The Lehigh Valley mainstream has rarely encountered a band as punky as Green Day, and definitely not as aggressively gay as Pansy Division. But the culture clash at Baron's Beach Club in Allentown last Saturday night didn't produce any major catastrophes, unless you consider an anti-gay remark or two a catastrophe. Many in the diverse sold-out crowd of 1,500 were not expecting a "queercore" band, and as Pansy Division hit the stage, an intoxicated man hollered, 'You mean I have to sit through a bunch of homos before Green Day comes on?!'
The members of Pansy Division were not shrinking violets, and after the fourth song, bassist Chris Freeman, a dead ringer for Greg Brady, asked the crowd if they had figured out that Pansy Division was gay. Musical highlights included "Rock 'n' Roll Queer Bar" (Pansy Division's mutation of the Ramones classic 'Rock 'n' Roll High School'), 'Bill and Ted's Homosexual Encounter' and 'Reciprocate.'
Green Day's second trip to the Lehigh Valley this year found the band full of punk-rock attitude. Vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe even scolded the crowd for moshing. The trio played its hit songs 'Longview' and 'Basket Case' early in the set. The only slow part was the same dreary 20-minute blues jam that the band indulged in at Lehigh University in March. Overall the band performed effortlessly, professionally and energetically, even if Green Day's attitude left much to be desired. (Then again, it wouldn't be punk rock without the attitude, right?) At the end of the jam, Billie Joe unzipped his pants and appeared to expose himself. He didn't. It was another Billie Joe trick - made of rubber."
Setlist
1. 2,000 Light Years Away
2. Longview
3. Basket Case
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