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| Copyright � 2004 by Green Day Mania/SJ Wood. All Rights Reserved. |
| GREEN DAY- July 15th 2002-from "Nick" The Bottom Line A very varied show with a lot of crowd participation. Amazing set, fronted by a man with an amazing presence. Truly a must-see band. I've often heard people say that Green Day are not a punk band. I could see their point, I mean if you're looking at punk you're looking at The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, et al. However, in these modern times, I have five words for the people who say that this band aren't punk - GO AND SEE THEM LIVE. The Date: July 15th 2002. The Venue: Newcastle Telewest Arena, Newcastle, England. The Support: Pinhole. The arena The arena itself is, in a word, HUGE (as arenas in the UK go anyway), holding up to 12,000 people in seating and standing areas. The security aren't always the most careful in the world, but more about that later... The Crowd There is one way to describe the crowd of people at a Green Day concert - INSANE. Many a dyed head of hair could be seen and a surprising amount of females willing to get into the moshpit along with the guys (something my girlf said she wouldn't advise to any female Green Day fans). During the gig there were many a crowdsurfers to kick you in the head and one of the roughest moshpits I have ever seen in my life. It all adds to the fun if you're into that sort of thing. If not, I'd keep to the edges of the crowd out of the way. The Concert Green Day are, in the simplest terms, a brilliant live act. They put on a very competent and energetic show, playing songs from almost every one of their albums. Some of the set list included: 2000 Lightyears Away She When I come around Minority Platypus (I hate you) Hitchin' a ride Good Riddance (Time of your life) King for a day Macy's Day Parade Waiting Haha you're dead Longview Maria Basketcase Shout (indeed, a cover of the song made famous by Lulu) The set lasted for an hour and a half, although my memory is extremely terrible so I fail to remember the entire list. It was a very varied show with the very up-tempo numbers mixed with the slower tracks, which came at the end of the show to calm everyone down. Billie Joe Armstrong is clearly one who enjoys crowd participation. There were many a time where he had the crowd singing along (or singing for him), hey-hoing and even playing the band's instruments. The Highlights The main highlight for me was when Billie Joe pulled people out of the crowd to come onstage and play for them. He picked a guitarist, drummer and bassist as he, Mike Dirnt and Frank Edwin Wright III (aka Tre Cool) instructed them on the beats and chords to use. The kids that were up there playing were amazing and the guy who played guitar was damn lucky, as Billie Joe did a deal with him. He got to keep the guitar, as long as he did a stage dive. Which the kid did, right over my head. Amazing stuff. Other highlights included: The performance of 'King for a day': Donned in a crown and a cape, Billie Joe got the crowd to help him sing along with one of GD's more comic tracks. You couldn't help but laugh while watching him and simultaneously singing along to 'G.I Joe in pantyhose' The cover of 'Shout': Another track that very much relied on crowd participation, with us repeating Billie Joe's "Heeeeeeeeey-hoooooooo's" I think the whole crowd found it quite bizarre but nevertheless it was fun. Performance of 'Good Riddance (Time of your life)' and 'Macy's day parade': These are two songs that could never fail to reduce me to tears anyway, but when you see these songs performed live with everyone waving their lighters around, you go completely weak at the knees. Both played at the end of the set, they gave the crowd a chance to cool and calm down after jumping vigorously around to 'Minority' and 'When I come around,' which was a very welcome break for a lot of people in the crowd I'm sure. ___________________________ The end of the show saw a blinding use of pyrotechnics (I was stood 5ft away and I could feel the heat, so I dread to think what poor Tre was feeling) and being showered with millions of pieces of customary Green Day confetti. A great end to a great show. The only bad points of the concert did not come from the performance itself, but from the security. At most gigs you would get given cups of water to stop you dehydrating. At this venue, we got sprayed with water instead, which made us all itchy and really very unimpressed. The security were VERY rough when pulling out crowdsurfers, one being dropped on my head at one point, which was really rather painful. All in all In their live show, Green Day go to prove that they are one of, if not the best modern punk band around today. Billie Joe has an AMAZING live voice and stage presence and he really knows how to get the crowd involved, which you don't see from many frontmen these days. Green Day truly are a must-see band. Even if you weren't a fan before, after seeing them live, you WILL be converted. You can trust me on that one. |