It's been 19 years since I was last at a gig in Bellahouston park which was Coldplay on their X and Y tour. Green day announced this gig last year but I didn't immediately buy tickets. The latest album "Saviours" came out earlier this year and I thought was the best album they have done in a number of years. But when they announced that they were celebrating 30 years of "dookie" and 20 years of "American Idiot" by playing both albums in full, I was sold, so sounded out the gig gang and majority were up for it.
Getting to the gig was no problem at all. Parked about 30 minutes walk away so we avoided getting stuck in some very slow moving traffic. Once we got to the venue, it was very quick getting in with no queues. And only had 20 minutes wait for the first support, Maid of Ace to come on stage. They are 4 piece, all girl rock band from Hasting in the south of England. Their set must have been about 30 minutes filled with punchy, angsty, straight to the point rock songs to get the evening off to a great start. Which is more than I can say for my map reading skills. As I proposed a meet up point as we were all coming at different times only to find I picked the point the other side of where everyone in the gang was coming in from. D'oh. But we did manage all to meet up so all good.
The main support for the night was Nothing but thieves. An interesting choice and I read quite a few things before hand saying not many people had heard of them so were surprised by Green Day's choice of support. Especially when you consider support acts Green day have had in the past like Fall out boy, Weezer and on other dates on this tour they have had the Smashing pumpkins. But those in the know will know Nothing but thieves have been on the rise over the last few years and have supported the likes of Muse as well as being on mainstream radio. The big big question is would it appeal to Green Day fans as their music is more indie with latest stuff especially have a dance groove through it.
When they took the stage themselves you could tell they themselves were wondering how they would go down. And to me it felt like they went down really well. It was a great set with a mix from all their albums. Tracks like "Everybody going crazy", "Amsterdam" and "Welcome to the DCC" my personal stand outs. I was really pleased they got a shot at this slot and they really did deliver.
Then it was time for Green Day who started the set with "American Dream is killing me" off of "Saviours". Then it was time to blow up the Dookie balloon and head straight into "dookie" in it's entirety". So many good songs off this album. I think "Basket case" was by far and away the stand out and is up there with their most popular songs. I still remember the video coming on MTV2 and Kerrang during my youth. Other highlights included "When I come around" and "Welcome to Paradise". But I think this part of the set proved that "dookie" deserves all the accolades it gets as it is a really class and solid album.
After completing "dookie" they had a mini set which was a mixture of "Saviours" and some other albums. And when I say dipped into other albums I mean 1 song off "21st century breakdown", 1 off "insomniac", 1 off "Warning" and 1 off "Kerplunk". For "Know your enemy" they invited a girl on stage to sing some of it which she did well and got lots of hugs off Billy as well as a selfie. But later they invited a guy on stage who was holding a sign up saying "I can play dilemma on guitar". Which caught Billy Joel's attention and invited him to play it. And he really did knock it out the park. Billy Joel paid massive respect to him after.
Then it was time for "American Idiot" in full. There are songs on this album I was really looking forward to seeing live and they did not disappoint. "American idiot" itself, "Boulevard of Broken dreams", "Holiday", "Jesus of Suburbia" and the last track on the album "Wake me up when September ends". I feel these songs are on a par with "Basket Case" and do hold the album up quite a lot. It's like "dookie" is a solid album with 1 real stand out. But "American idiot" has more songs at "Basket case" level, which does make some of the other songs feel not as good.
To finish the night they played the 5th track of the night from "Saviours" in the form of "Bobby sox" and then could they finish the night with anything but "Time of your life"? Absolutely not. It was a great night and so glad I have finally got round to seeing them. Venue was also superb, really good sound and no issues getting in and out. There was some light rain during the supports but never threatened to turn the place into a mud pit.
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