Green Dream

At 7.00pm on January 31st after a long, long day, I started to feel uncontrollably giddy. I had a sensation like you’d get if several butterflies were deep within you and thrashing around, trying to escape and causing chaos inside. Had it all got too much for me? Had the thin thread, which held together my jangled mind finally snapped? No, Green Day were in town and I wanted to see them, wanted to see them badly.

A couple of years back, I’d caught them at Witnness, where they turned in an unbelievable performance – so, my expectations were high. However, all was not rosy in the Point garden. Turned out I probably had the worst vantage point in the house, upper left balcony standing. The problem being that, due to the big speakers, you can only see 30% of the stage at the best of times.

As we waited for the Californian trio to emerge, I saw that they had sent what looked like a drunk guy dressed as a pink bunny out to warm up the audience (as if listening to all the best Ramones songs wasn’t enough). As it edged towards 9pm, the pink bunny left, thanks be to fuck, and the house lights dimmed.

Lift-off! The ground spots shot up from the stage and Billie Joe Armstrong proudly launched into the band’s latest anthem. “Don't want to be an American idiot,” he screamed, “Don't want a nation under the new mania/ And can you hear the sound of hysteria?/ The subliminal mindfuck America.” And away they went. Fucking superb. An inspiring performance of ‘Jesus of Suberbia’ followed (this version was probably about twice as long as the 9 minute album version and still came to a premature end!) But while they packed most of the new album into the set, they also managed to keep space for a bunch of classics: ‘Longview’, ‘Brain Stew’, ‘She’, ‘Blood Sex and Booze’, ‘Reject’ and the exceptional ‘Basket Case’.

At this stage, I was in a state of near euphoria. So far, there’d been lots of flames – smaller than the ones which graced the Witnness performance, but what the hell, we were indoors – more explosions and dynamite noise. Entertainment too: at one point they decided to create a band from the audience. After choosing a perfect drummer and a decent bass player, to complete the line-up Billie Joe picked an 11 year old girl who – like me – was in upper left balcony. It took her about 10 minutes to get to the stage – in fact, at one point Billie Joe was told she was lost but just as he was about to pick a replacement for her, she emerged side stage. Everything was set, this was her big moment, her 15 minutes of fame and then… She froze.

Billie Joe quickly found a replacement and asked this latest guitar-wielding teenager “Hey, have you ever been laid? Well, you will be tonight!”

After a good ‘performance’ by the “band”, Green Day blasted on with their set. A beautiful ‘Wake Me When September Ends’ was dedicated to the great Johnny Ramone. They closed the set with ‘Minority’, replete with shouts that were echoed by the crowd. (This was a trick Billie played throughout the night, using it to control the audience, to the extent that he was almost like a puppet master using the crowd as part of the show better than I’ve seen any other performer use them. And I have to admit it felt good being used by Billy Joe! But I digress…)

For their encore, Tre, Mike and Billie Joe – looking like the coolest men in rock with the designer wrinkles on their faces, fifteen years into the game – returned with their latest hit, ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’. It was sublime, and they followed it with a great ‘When I Come Around’.

They did a version of ‘We Are The Champions’ during which I became acutely aware that I was just about the only person in the venue who hates Queen. Saying that, their stab at it was far better than Freddie and the boys’, so I can see why the, ahem, Queen lovers were excited. At the end of that song, machines spat out a ton of confetti, which completely hid the stage. When the debris cleared, Billie Joe was left alone to perform a heartfelt rendition of ‘Good Riddance’ – the perfect way to end a great night.

As I left I heard a man, probably in his 30’s, remark: “I’ve seen hundred’s of gigs but never been as entertained as I was there.” It was typical of the overall reaction. The only thing I really missed from the Witnness blueprint was their treatment of ‘King For A Day’, which on the outdoor stage included a mariachi band and about 100 female dancers. And I couldn’t believe that they didn’t play the brilliant ‘Poprocks and Coke’. Still, they delivered and the butterflies were free…

Their latest may not be a Doolittle or even a Nevermind, but it’s a very strong record nonetheless. Analysis: Decent Album, Inspirational Live!