25/06/2024 - Green day @ Bellahouston park, Glasgow

 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.

Nothing But Thieves - Moral Panic

 

"Moral Panic" is the 3rd album by Essex lads, Nothing but thieves.  The band formed in 2012, releasing their self titled debut album in 2015. They then went on to release their second album "Broken machine" in 2017 and now in 2020 we have 3rd album "Moral Panic.  This is a 5 piece band comprising of Conor Mason on vocals, Joe Langridge-Brown on guitar, Dominic Crack on guitar, keyboard and piano, Philip Blake on bass and James Price on drums. NBT are a band I have been aware of for a number of years now.  I think their most famous track and really the one track I had heard prior to this year was "Amsterdam" which was on their "Broken machine" record. I have to admit that song didn't really do it for me and it didn't make me want to investigate them further at that time.

Fast forward to March 2020 and one of my gig buddies brought a single which NBT just released to my attention which was "Is everybody going crazy?".  This song was the first single to be released off "Moral Panic and is not only an incredibly catchy pop rock song.  But it was also incredibly timely given what was happening in the UK when it was released. This was at the time Covid first hit and the country went into lockdown and "Everybody going crazy?" seemed to some up well the wellbeing of the nation, not only then but now as I type this.

It wasn't just a one off monster of song they released as the quality of the singles released after this continued to build the momentum for the album coming out in October 2020 showing not only quality but the bands versatility as well.  "Real Love song" was another memorable anthem while "Unperson" mixed things up about with a really funky riff almost making you want to get up and dance to it.  Then "Impossible" turned things on its head as it slowed things right down and really displayed the amazing vocal range of Conor Mason.

These tracks also fitted well into the album.  One thing I really notice about this album is the amazingly creative variation in the structure of the songs. Yes there are songs which you could put in the typical verse, chorus, verse chorus pigeon hole like "Real love song and "Everybody going crazy". But when you look deep into the record songs like "Phobia" and "Can you afford to be an individual?". You find a band that really are trying to step out and do something different.  Combine that with Conor Mason's extreme vocal range and different is something we really do have here.  "Can you afford to be an individual? is probably my favourite song on the album at time of writing as its one of those songs which builds and builds and Conor's singing ends up sounding like Rage against the machine's Zach de la Rocha.  Probably a comparison you wouldn't have thought when you first listen to NBT.

Overall this is a great record. I do think that it was unfortunate in the timing of the release of the album.  They had always set October as the release date and this became a time when many other artists delayed their album too as well as other artists who had planned an October release date. Meaning it may not have had the attention it deserved at the time. And I would definitely admit I haven't spent as much time with this album as it deserves and that is why I am glad I have gone back to it now.