Vintage 1991 video of Green Day rocking a Santa Rosa High School lunchtime set resurfaces

A resurfaced video highlighting an early concert from Green Day on the quad of Santa Rosa High School has been shared by a history-focused social media account, drawing thousands of likes and hundreds of comments from music fans.

The 1991 video, showing the trio of guitarist and vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt; and drummer Tré Cool launching into a lunchtime set on the campus steps, offers a candid glimpse into the East Bay punk band’s formative years before they became global headliners following the massive success of their 1994 album “Dookie.”

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The Instagram account History Photographed shared the video to its 9.5 million followers on Monday, Sept. 14. As of Tuesday afternoon, it had 302,000 views and more than 9,400 likes.

In the video, Armstrong and Dirnt employ students to hold the microphones, including Gabe Meline, who is credited with sharing the video along with Shayne Stacy.

Meline, the arts and culture editor at KQED, is a key figure in preserving North Bay music history.

He recently curated the “Disturbing the Peace: Sonoma County’s Early Punk Underground” exhibition at the Museum of Sonoma County in Santa Rosa. That show brought together decades of rare photography, concert fliers, and band paraphernalia, many from Meline’s personal collection. The exhibit spotlighted the vital role Sonoma County played in the West Coast punk explosion.

Monday’s Instagram Reel sparked hundreds of comments from locals and Green Day fans alike.

“Played srhs battle of the bands many years later on those same steps. At the time I had no idea they played there though!” wrote @ole_knee.

“I remember this day!!!!” wrote @cjfairy1.

The clip was previously shared by the band on Instagram in 2023, signaling the trio’s longstanding affection for the North Bay.

In a 2018 article, Dirnt told The Press Democrat that he was fond of his time spent in the region as a teen.

“The North Bay, we’ve always had really cool and interesting shows, and usually after these shows, we’d end up at somebody’s house stoned out of our minds,” Dirnt said at the time. “It was a great place near home that we could play, like a second home.”