CityLife

Green Day

Green Day
MEN Arena
October 30 and 31, 2009

YOU wouldn’t believe it from their youthful looks but every twenty-something’s favourite pop-punk group turned rejuvenated politically-conscious stadium rockers recently entered their 21st year together.

And from the scale of pyros, call-and-response moments and diminutive frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s dictator-like crowd command, you can tell that they’ve learnt a thing or two about putting on a hell of a show during those years.

A cursory glance around the capacious – and totally sold-out in this the first of two nights here – venue shows that most in attendance fall into one of two camps; those that grew up with the quirky trio’s infectious three-chord pogo punk pop and those in thrall to the big sloganing rallying rock of 2004’s American Idiot and recent return 21st Century Breakdown, and over the course of the evening’s near three-hour show both are perfectly catered for.

Taking to the stage in front of a skyscraper-strewn backdrop, it isn’t long before Billie Joe’s inciting an arena-sized singalong for opener 21st Century Breakdown.

In fact barely a second passes where we aren’t being cajoled into some form of involvement.

Mesmerising

Surprisingly given most of their recent lyrical output the trio (the line up being stretched to a six-piece for performance purposes) leave their politics at the door for the evening.

Instead Billie Joe and co. pull off every crowd-pleasing stunt imaginable, from letting off water-cannons and streamers, pulling attendees on stage to become the band, and cannoning T-shirts into the back reaches of the crowd.

Fortunately, those here for nostalgia’s sake are treated to the likes of early favourites 2000 Light Years Away, Basket Case, Brain Stew and a saxophone led run-through of King For A Day.

However, it was the bigger riffs and anthemic choruses for the disenchanted of recent hits Holiday, Know Your Enemy and Boulevard Of Broken Dreams that were received the loudest by the crowd.

While it may all be a far far cry from their Berkley, California punk roots, the group have grown into these bigger stages with ease.

And in frontman Billie Joe, they have an artist who easily ranks as one of the most mesmerising to take to the M.E.N Arena’s stage in recent memory, especially when closing the show with a solo acoustic version of their breakout moment Time Of Your Life (Good Riddance).

Outstanding.

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