Friday, January 15, 2010

Green Day Concert Review


Two weeks into the new year and I've just seen one of the greatest live bands of this generation. Green Day put on a fucking kick-ass rock & roll show. From the opening song 21st Century Breakdown, Billie Joe Armstrong wasted no time to get the crowd going. In fact, the mosh pit was so wild that the front barricade broke and Billie suddenly called for the song to stop. That really broke the momentum, but at least he gives a damn for the safety of the crowd. During the later part of the show, the band members even fired water guns at the people at the front. It's no doubt that Billie is one of the best frontmen in music now; and he learned from the greats.

Crowd participation was really good, and there were countless sing-alongs, maybe a bit too much. I liked the parts when Billie invited fans onstage to sing with him. And on Long View, Billie just let the dude sing the whole song, which was pretty cool, because the guy really knew how to work the crowd. The setlist had all the usual hits, but I thought the sequencing of the songs was really good. My favorite part came during the middle portion of the show, when they did a little rock & roll medley of songs, which included Paranoid and Highway To Hell!! The cover of Shout had Hey Jude, Break On Through and Love Me Tender.

A surprisingly long show, 2.5 hours. American Idiot followed by Jesus Of Suburbia was another high point for me. So Billie's right when he said he wanted to give Springsteen a run for his money!

Setlist (14 Jan 2010):
  1. Song Of The Century
  2. 21st Century Breakdown
  3. Know Your Enemy
  4. East Jesus Nowhere
  5. Holiday
  6. The Static Age
  7. Give Me Novacaine
  8. Are We The Waiting
  9. St. Jimmy
  10. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
  11. Burnout
  12. Hitchin' A Ride
  13. Welcome To Paradise
  14. When I Come Around
  15. Iron Man (Main Riff)
  16. Paranoid
  17. Highway To Hell
  18. Brain Stew
  19. Jaded
  20. Longview
  21. Basket Case
  22. She
  23. King For A Day / Shout / Love Me Tender / Satisfaction / Hey Jude
  24. 21 Guns
  25. Minority
  1. American Idiot
  2. Jesus Of Suburbia
  1. Last Night On Earth
  2. Wake Me Up When September Ends
  3. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)