Chaos At Woodstock '94
August 14, 1994 - Saugerties, New York
Leave it to Green Day to start the biggest mud fight in history at a festival meant to incourage peace! The over 350,000 fans watching the show were incouraged to throw mud after one fan did so and Billie picked it up and put it in his mouth. Soon after, Billie began running across the stage while fans threw mud, and he attempted to fight back on his own, needless to say he was a little outmatched. Things began getting really out of control when fans began running on the stage, even Mike was mistaken for a fan and lost three teeth as bouncers tackled him. Billie described it best onstage when he yelled, "this isn't peace it's fucking anarchy." Billie later said, "Going into it I thought that the nostalgia reasons behind the show were kind of a joke. So we went in thinking 'This is lame'. But then it turned into something completely unexpected. To tell you the truth, it was the closest thing to total chaos i've ever seen in my whole life."

Free Show Ends In Riot
September 9, 1994 - The Hatch Shell, Boston
Less than a month after their infamous appearance at Woodstock, Green Day performed a free show arranged by local Boston radio station, WFNX. A modest crowd was predicted by organizers but contrary to expectations, and estimated 100,000 people descended on the site. The police and state troopers were out in force aided by a 15-man security team of inmates from the local prison. The crowd control was woefully inadequate and a few minutes after the band had taken the stage, the crash barriers came down. All hell broke loose. "The police were getting beat up and stuff" said Tre. The lighting rig began to wobble and the promoter, concerned the whole stage might fall, pulled the plug. The crowd went mad, causing havoc that quickly spread through the streets of downtown Boston. The local news reported more than 60 arrests and dozens of minor injuries. "They were tear gassing the crowd and all these things", Tre remembers, "next thing their announcing 'Green Day has left the building! Green Day has left the building', it was fucking funny". The band were ushered under the building for their safety and watched the whole fiasco, while the prisons begged for autographs. "The thing is", noted Tre, "not one of them fucked off, they all went back to jail the next day!"

Billie Gets Naked For Charity
December 5, 1994 - Madison Square Gardens, New York
With the Z-100 Christmas show (AIDS benefit) beginning to drag after 7 hours, Green Day needed to be in top form to revive the tired audience. This was the final concert after a long year of supporting their hit album 'Dookie'. At close to 2AM the band finished their set and headed backstage before their encore. Fans would be in for a surprise when Billie returned to the stage wearing nothing but his guitar for a performance of 'She'. "His impulsive need to be noticed turned a musical endurance test into what will be one of the most talked about concerts of the year," reported the New York Post. Check out this video clip (Quicktime, 1.8MB) of the performance courtesy of GreenDayVideos.com.

Leno's Green Room Messed Up
February 25, 1996 - Tonight Show, California
Although I can't remember the whole story now that it's been 5 years, I do know Green Day did manage to mess up Jay Leno's green room pretty good after a performance of 'Brain Stew' on the show. After the show, producers found the room an absolute mess with peanut butter spread in the cushions of the couch among other things. They also found an elmo doll hanging from a noose. The reason for the bands anger, Jennifer Aniston was supposed to be a guest on the show and she cancelled.

Billie Cited For Indecent Exposure
November 21, 1996 - Mecca Auitorium, Milwaukee
Billie Joe pulled a Jim Morrison and exposed himself to 6000 or so fans at the Mecca Auditorium, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That was, of course, Armstrong's clever way of letting Green Day fans who understand Green Day-ese know that the Mecca was a mediocre show. After Green Day finished their hour long set, police officers took Armstrong to the Milwaukee police station, where he was cited for indecent exposure. After he paid the bail of $141.85, he was released. But why don't we let Lt. Thomas Christopher of the Milwaukee PD explain what happened, as only law enforcement can: "Mr. Armstrong dropped his pants to his knees and exposed his buttocks to the crowd. After the concert, Mr. Armstrong was taken into custody, given a city citation for indecent exposure. He posted a bail and was released." Officers went out of their way not to disrupt the concert, in order to avoid a potential riot. Instead they waited until the last notes were played and apprehended Armstrong on the way to his limo. "The problem was he exposed himself to a crowd of about 6,000 people," said Lt. Christopher. "Including people as young as ten. That was our main reason for taking the action."