‘Green Day’ then reminded me most of all of ‘Hüsker Dü’ … ‘Doctor & The Crippens’ were some sort of a punk ‘cabaret’, completely with fireworks and exploding cabbages! The guy who did the fire-spitting almost set the ceiling on fire and the fuel dripped on our heads…
Henk Loobuyck
‘Doctor and The Crippens’ had played a show at Netwerk, Aalst (90-02-03) but this wasn’t organised by Smurfpunx because we thought the promoter was too commercial. For some reason (I guess Bruno didn’t have the same scruples as me) they ended up at the V.V. a year later… The ‘Crippens’ members were Nick Palmer (‘Max Von Rheinheart’; vocals), Tom Myall (guitar), Wayne Elliot (bass) and Dave Ellesmere (‘Jesus van Go(u)gh’; ex ‘Discharge’; drums).
When I was in San Francisco in 1989, I met a lot of people (at Mordam recs, Blacklist mailorder, etc.) and also visited the Maximum Rock’n’Roll house. At that time Lawrence Livermore’s label Lookout recs was also up and coming… Of course I bought a relatively big amount of vinyl. Some was by this young, fresh-sounding band ‘Green Day’. I liked their uptempo melodic punk-rock style. So when Christy Colcord (Lookout Europe) – who, back then, was living in London – contacted me (I think we’d met when she was touring with ‘Inside Out’ earlier that year) to help find some gigs, I didn’t hesitate. (see Brob’s tours: 6th – ‘La Zone’, Liège * 7th – ‘Kalashnikov’, Terneuzen * 8th – ‘Vort’n Vis’, Ieper). Little did I know that they were soon to become ‘major’…
Mike Dirnt (Michael Ryan Pritchard; bass), Tré Cool (Frank Edwin Wright III; drums) and Billie Joe Armstrong acted really ‘cool’. They weren’t really communicative, to say the least. Were they having a ‘green day’? Or were they already expecting some fancy, commercial venue? Never saw any photos of that gig… The only trace of their passage seems to be the entry in the Vort’n Vis guestbook.
Brob
photo by Philippe Klur (published in Uprising Decay #4)
excerpts from the V.V. guestbook:
additions wellcome!…
Vort'n Vis in the 90s 
Later on that tour ‘Green Day’ mounted a punk version of the Nativity play during their gig at The Den in Wigan (92-12-21) (U.K.).
I was there… Didn’t like ‘Green Day’ already then…
I was there too, even interviewed Billie Joe and Tre for my zine. They were actually nice, we talked for 30 minutes on the first floor… And their concert was excellent!!! They played for 45 minutes, good level of energy, they seemed to enjoy themselves… I went to a lot of gigs at the Vort’n Vis at that time and I definitely respect them more than many DIY hardcore-punk bands playing completely drunk, being very sloppy and clearly touring Europe to have some fun, enjoy the sites and drink free beer… Where are all these people now???
‘Green Day’ was not so well known at that time… They slept upstairs of the Vort’n Vis on a mattress. If I remember well they played for 8.000 Belgian Franks (200 Euro).
Actually the place was way too small for a fire-show (fire-spitting). I felt the heat in my face. This could have ended pretty badly!