Green Day is a legendary American band that probably needs no introduction. He has been active on the music scene since 1986. On January 19, 2024, the latest album, “Saviors”, long awaited by fans, was released after a four-year break. The band’s fourteenth studio album was promoted by singles such as “Dilemma” and “One Eyed Bastard”. However, before Green Day achieved international success and exceeded the mark of 80 million records sold, before they released the album “Dookie”, which achieved incredible success, and before they were entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the band performed three concerts in Poland. It was 1991 and Green Day was still an unpopular punk band.
Green Day for the first time in Poland. He played in… Gryfino, Bydgoszcz and Białystok
It sounds unbelievable today, but the punk rock legend first performed in Poland in 1991. The band played a total of three concerts, but what may surprise you is where they took place. Green Day, still little known at that time, performed as support before the concert of the English band Sink.
The first concert took place on November 10 at the Gryfino Cultural Center. Posters promoting the event include information that Green Day is a “melodic hardcore band from the USA”. Maybe 50-60 people showed up at the concert, but the band’s singer remembered it well. – I hooked up to the stereo that night. I plugged in my guitar and I know a lot of garage bands of the time thought it was very cool, but the sound was… the purest I had ever heard. […] Two hours later they returned with the only distortion they could find in town. I plugged it in and it sounded like a farting duck. But we played – Billie Joe Armstrong.
Green Day’s first concert in Poland. It wasn’t “some huge event”
A day later, the band performed in Bydgoszcz at the “Modus” Clothing Factory. Thanks to wider promotion, crowds came to the concert. Encouraged by the performance of the British and American bands, the fans traveled halfway across Poland, although they had no idea what to expect. On November 12, Green Day played in Białystok, where at most 30 people came.
In Bydgoszcz they slept normally in apartments. They ate what they were given and drank vodka from the gwent. And for us, they were just one of hundreds of bands traveling through Europe
– recalled Krzysztof Model Kornak, who was one of the organizers. They were not star-struck, nor did they have irrational cravings. – They came to us as widely unknown boys from the USA, which was an attraction, but not a huge event – emphasizes Ewa De La Torre, director of the Gryfiński Cultural Center, in an interview. In the 1990s, many foreign, including American, stars performed in Poland and bands, still little known at that time. This was not a rare situation, although in hindsight it seems absurd. Green Day returned to Poland in 2005, already a big star, and played at Spodek in Katowice. Fans of the band in Poland could also listen to them live in 2013 and 2017.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
