Here’s another reason to like Green Day. Yesterday, the band hosted a Facebook Live event from a small rehearsal space in Tampa, Florida where they streamed a mini-set comprised of deep cuts and pre-1996 classics, in an effort to raise some money for Americares, an organization on the ground providing essential resources for the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
“We felt like we had to do something,” frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said before the band — playing as a trio — started jamming. “You guys are a bunch of heroes and for all the people down in those communities and Texas that are affected, we’re going to play some old songs. It’s going to sound very garage-y in here.”
Armstrong continued to plug the donation button throughout the set, explaining what services Americares provides and encouraging people to contribute to the relief efforts, as well as noting that they are preparing to respond to the incoming Hurricane Irma. Check out the archived video of the full set above, with music starting around 25:30.
After playing a myriad of tracks from their debut album Kerplunk and deeper cuts from the post-Dookie era like Insomniac’s “J.A.R.” By the end of the hour-long broadcast, over two million people had tuned in, with just over 2,000 people contributing to a total of almost $150,000 raised for Americares.
This is just the latest in a string of members of the indie/punk community coming together to raise funds for the devastation in Texas over the past week.
