Green Day performed a secret gig at the Captain Cook Hotel. Picture: Supplied Source: News Corp Australia
TWITTER blew-up, jealousy overflowed and lifelong memories were made for a couple of hundred people who saw Green Day play a surprise gig in a tiny Sydney pub last night.
A shock wave swept through the Sydney rock community when the band tweeted at 10.17pm details of a surprise free gig at The Captain Cook Hotel in Paddington under an hour before it started.
Shocked fans rubbed their eyes and their hearts skipped a beat as they processed the almost unreal message.
With no time to waste they swerved through traffic and ran through the streets to make it inside before the little pub filled up.
“It felt like what I would imagine an 80s rock gig in a dingy pub is like, sweaty bodies on bodies and beers thrown everywhere,” 19-year-old Kane McChesney said.
Jono Panichi, Kane McChesney, Cassidy Avis, Jackson Lehane, Luke McChesney, Max Wilkinson were some of the lucky punters to see green Day live at the secret Sydney gig. Picture: Bill Hearne Source: News Corp Australia
“The singer walked out on stage and goes ‘I guess a few of you saw the tweet’.”
With that understatement the band kicked off an hour-long set of old and new tunes on a stage the size of a postage-stamp compared to their usual surroundings.
Unlucky fans stuck outside pushed and shoved to look in through windows as others climbed trees to get a view inside.
The band will headline Soundwave tbefore an audience of tens of thousands this Sunday.
Captain Cook Hotel owner Darren Wood, Inferno Music instrument-supplier boss Tim Davy and author of My Sydney Riot blog Ray Lalotoa hatched the gig just hours earlier.
“We got a call today and had to keep it on the down low,” Mr Wood said.
“It happened in all of about five minutes. 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’.”
That ace was up Green Day’s sleeve, one which sent fans scrambling.
“I was doing the last check-out on Facebook and then I saw the tweet and jumped out of bed and got into the car,” 21-year-old Jono Panichi said.
Ryan Neal said the good vibes were in overdrive as the band powered through songs like ‘American Idiot’ and ‘Hitchin’ a Ride’.
“It was wicked, the crowd was pushing and everyone was surging to the front, it was a great vibe in there,” he said.
“They seemed pretty happy getting back to their roots. Everyone was packed in their like sardines.”
Angie Anderson had no doubt about that: “I’m covered in a million different peoples sweat,” she said.
Fans gathered outside the Captain Cook Hotel after the venue filled quickly for Green Day’s secret set. Picture: Bill Hearne Source: News Corp Australia
The band even took requests from the chanting crowd: “They weren’t being standard ego rock stars,” Cassidy Avis said.
After it finished people spilled outside and madly broadcast their experience on every form of social media possible, sending waves of jealousy across Australia.
“All my comments on Instagram are ‘I hate you’ and ‘f*** you’,” Micki Rich, who last saw the band play before a packed SCG in 2005, said.
It was a similar story for Ms Avis: “No one’s even happy for us, they’re just like ‘I hate you’,” she said.
The Captain Cook Hotel at Moore Park played host to Green Day last night. Source: News Corp Australia
Walking through hordes of raucous fans the band got into waiting vans and sped off.
Following in the footsteps of legendary venues like The Annandale Hotel and The Basement, The Captain Cook Hotel has cemented itself as a new iconic rock venue.
“These things don’t happen everyday,” organiser Tim Davy said.
99 Revolutions
Know Your Enemy
Nice Guys Finish Last
Holiday
Stuck with Me
Burnout
Chump
Longview
Rusty James
Brain Stew
St. Jimmy
Encore:
American Idiot