The Coverups (which is basically Green Day under another name as a cover band, with Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt) covered Nirvana’s “Drain You” in Albany on December 19th at The Ivy Room. Billie Joe Armstrong said, “It’s all fun and games, but when it comes to your own generation…it’s a little weirder.” Many YouTube commenters praised the performance, but lotku commented that Billie Joe Armstrong butchered a key part, “Billie forgot the scream.” Lavender Llama responded, “I feel like anywhere from the 90s to 2005, Billie would’ve done the scream pretty well lol.” Scott Bryant commented, “Billie should front the next Nirvana reunion.”
Admiral Needa wrote on YouTube about the show, “On the show’s flyer, it said ‘Dress Up!’ so many attendees wore holiday costumes and festive attire, including the band! Admission was only $17, and with it, we also got a raffle ticket. Several prizes were raffled off, including the festive holiday hats that Mike, Billie Joe and Chris wore during the show, and a rare compilation vinyl from Fuel, Thumper, Monsula and Filth. The biggest prize, however, was their black 1992 Cadillac limousine that the band previously used to travel to all the Coverups shows. Mike: “And it’s totally smoggable” lol.
The winners, coincidentally, were Lani Torres and Summer Gerbing, co-owners of the Ivy Room! For the previous show at The Uptown in Oakland, the band teased the crowd into thinking they were giving away their limo, only to then give away a Bird Scooter, lol.
The Ivy Room is a bar and music venue which has a capacity of only 196 people and there were ~125 friends and family in attendance. The previous 5 Coverups shows were held in Albany at the Ivy Room, Thee Parkside in San Francisco and The Uptown in Oakland.
The Coverups, Billie Joe, Mike Dirnt, Jason White, Bill Schneider and Chris Dugan, all hung out after the show, talking and taking pictures with friends, family and fans. For ‘American Girl’, Jason Beebout of Samiam, a punk band from Berkeley, California, sang the lead vocals. For ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’, Michelle Gonzalez of Spitboy and Kamala and the Karnivores joined them on the vocals and played the tambourine. And for the final couple songs of Corrupted Morals, Billie Joe sang the lead vocals and played guitar on ‘In the End’ and ‘Be All You Can Be’, which was included on the soundtrack to the documentary Turn It Around: Story of East Bay Punk.
Many of the fans recognized each other from previous Green Day concerts. However, because the Ivy Room could only allow in fans 21 years old and over, some fans could not make it.
Mike Dirnt: Could I get a real beer? lol (they previously were all drinking non-alcoholic Clausthalers)”
Setlist:
1. A Million Miles Away (The Plimsouls cover)
2. I Wanna Be Sedated (Ramones cover)
3. Don’t Change (INXS cover)
4. I Fought the Law (The Crickets cover)
5. Father Christmas (The Kinks cover)
6. Where Eagles Dare (Misfits cover)
7. Born to Lose (The Heartbreakers cover)
8. Bastards of Young (The Replacements cover)
9. I Will Dare (The Replacements cover)
10. American Girl (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers cover) (with Jason Beebout)
11. Summer of ’69 (Bryan Adams cover)
12. All the Young Dudes (David Bowie cover)
13. Should I Stay or Should I Go (The Clash cover) (with Michelle Gonzalez)
14. Neat Neat Neat (The Damned cover)
15. Sheena Is a Punk Rocker (Ramones cover)
16. Dancing With Myself (Generation X cover)
17. Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie cover)
18. Drain You (Nirvana cover)
19. Suffragette City (David Bowie cover)
20. Happy (The Rolling Stones cover)
21. Surrender (Cheap Trick cover)
22. Whole Lotta Love (Led Zeppelin cover)
23. My Sharona (The Knack cover)
24. Run Run Rudolph (Chuck Berry cover)
25. Jumpin’ Jack Flash (The Rolling Stones cover)
26. (What’s So Funny ’bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (Brinsley Schwarz cover)
