Also: A lot of the videos from the show are up on Youtube, so if you search Green Day MSG or something like that you will find them. I was at the Monday show.
Say what you want about Green Day, they are arguably the biggest band of my generation. They are in the category with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Radiohead as bands that have been incredibly popular from the beginning of the 90s and almost 20 years later, these bands are still at the top, more popular than ever. So this past Monday, my roommate Nate from school and I shelled out the 60 bucks for floor spots at the Garden to see Green Day. After watching Billie Joe and Green Day mesmerize the crowd for almost 3 hours, i would of been willing to spend triple what I did. Granted this concert is fresh in my mind, I can confidently say that this was by far the best concert I have been too.
Before running through the show, I will say this. Green Day is definitely not the same band they were in the mid 90s. A lot of people hate on Green Day for their last two albums. They are very different from their old stuff and yes they provide a lot of political and social commentary that some may and will hate on. Regardless I think the fact that they have changed their style and have managed to arguably become more popular this last half of the decade just shows how talented they are.
So enough about what I think, O wait, this is my blog so you are stuck with what that.
Anyway to the show...
After leaving work I met Nate and we hung out in McDonald's around Penn Station waiting for the doors to open for the show. After trying to down a half and half mixture of warm rum and coke, (not pleasant at all, especially right after eating McDonald's) we made our way to the Garden. After receiving some well wishes from good buddy and fellow Green Day fan Eddie Small, Nate and I made it into the building. We were surprisingly able to make it to the floor of the arena where there weren't that many people yet. We moved as close as we could which was pretty god damn close. I would say 10-20 feet away from the stage. Then did what every good concert going fan does, wait a long fucking time.
Highlights of waiting for the show to start include talking to some legendary Wire fan about the show and buying an eight dollar beer with the guy staring at my ID for 2 minutes and finally giving me one. I knew that would work one day!
Kaiser Cheifs actually came out on time which was a good sign. They played for about 40 minutes and were actually pretty good despite the fact that I could not understand a word the lead singer was saying. I mean whatever, not important. After finishing, the stage was cleared and by 9 everything looked ready. I was a little disappointed that Green Day had still not taken the stage by 9:10. That feeling of disappointment would vanish rather quickly. The arena was filled and by 9:15 the lights went out, the place went nuts as "Song of the Century was being played in the background.
Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool rushed the stage and the Garden was kept in a state of frenzied euphoria until they finally left two and a half hours later. The first six songs they played were more or less played one after the other with little break in between. The place was rocking when the opening chords for "21st Century Breakdown" were played What helps with every concert is being kinda drunk and knowing the words to the songs. It just makes things more enjoyable. Right away you could tell this was the Billie Joe show as the guy just dominated the stage. The energy from the band and the crowd created electricity that lasted through "Know Your Enemy" followed by East Jesus Nowhere." There were mosh pits to the left of us, the stage to our right and everyones hands were in the air screaming. As I figured they would start with stuff off their newer album. "21st Century Breakdown" stood out as it was the opener song. A lot of concerts I have been to, the opener is more of a build up to what is coming. As expected, Green Day would be the complete opposite. "East Jesus Nowhere" had Billie Joe find a kid from the audience and bring him up on stage, asking over and over "Who wants to be saved!"
The crowd only got louder when "Holiday" started blaring. What I love about the show is everyone is just loud, going nuts and screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs. I have seen Spoon 4 times and I am always singing along but its nothing like this. The Garden was shaking as Billie Joe really got into this one. Gotta love the bridge segment in the song. In my opinion one of their best songs.
"The Static Age" followed as the energy level had not dropped since the show started. This song is one of their more radio friendly songs on their new album and I could see it being a single. Besides being radio friendly, it is one of the better and more classic sounding Green Day songs on the new album (When i say classic, I am not comparing it to Dookie or anything like that.) My point is listen to it first and then disagree with me.
Green Day finally gave the fans a break as the guitar riff for "Before The Lobotomy" as Billie Joe told a story for like 5 minutes about he was outside a bar and a guy drove by yelling "Billie Joe: Green Day SUCKS and so do you!" and how he saw the car stuck at a red light and he ran to the car and jumped through the window and starting punching the guy. Regardless if this every actually happened, it was pretty funny.
The next part of the concert featured "Before The Lobotomy" followed by "Are We The Waiting" and "St. Jimmy." All great in concert but songs that arent anything special in my opinion.
After getting the crowd back into it, Green Day dropped the bomb with "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" as Nate called it right before. The scene at the concert was just incredible. I don't care how overplayed this song was or is, it was incredible. I don't remember what was taking place on the stage but everyone was waving their hands singing as loud as they could drowning out Billie Joe.
The next shift in the concert took place as Green Day went back to the 90s after the first ten songs of the concert were off their two most recent albums. "2000 Light Years Away" was played but I really hadn't heard this song so I probably didn't appreciate it as much as others.
The next sequence might of been the best of the show.
It's hard for me to pick the number 1 song of the show but there was something extra special about "Welcome To Paradise." It's definitely in my top 3 for Green Day songs. It's one of those songs where if someone asked me to pick one Green Day song to play for someone who has never heard them, I would probably go with this. I was going ape-shit like everyone else in the audience so I dont remember much but the stage was glowing red as Billie Joe and the fans belted this one out.
Nate and I were in shock when the opening riff of "Castaway" began. In doing some research, Green Day had not played this song in like 6 years live. It definitely showed when Billie Joe couldnt get through the first verse before stopping saying "shit I forgot the words." While hilarious, Nate and I were pretty furious that this happened. This was reminisced to Rock the Bells 2007 when GZA did the opening chorus for Liquid Swords and then stopped in the middle repeating "Shit man, I don't think they are ready for this."
Anyway Green Day stood on the stage kind of deciding what to do. Finally Billie Joe asks the crowd, When I Come Around? This of course was met with everyone yelling and screaming enthusiastically. More research by me showed that this was the first time they played "When I Come Around" on their tour. One of the more legendary and classic Green Day songs, this one was incredible live.
They followed with "Disappearing Boy" which I didn't really know and they threw in some bits and pieces of other classic rock songs. This was followed by the guitar friendly "Brain Stew/Jaded" which was definitely another highlight of the show.
The concert was already 17 songs deep and still there was a lot more coming.
The opening baseline for "Longview" was played (fucking classic) and Billie Joe was looking for someone in the crowd to sing the first verse and he brought up some girl who did a pretty good job. He then got 2 different people on stage to sing a verse of "Longview" which ended with each person taking a stage dive into the crowd. Can you imagine singing this on stage at the Garden with Green Day? Unreal. 
They followed "Longview" with "Basket Case," probably their most popular and well known song. I wouldn't say there was anything spectacular they did for this song but it was still amazing nonetheless. They stayed with Dookie and played another classic banger from the album, "She." This is probably one of their best songs on the album, which is definitely a top 10 album of the 90s hands down. (Another blog post?) Another great song to see performed live. The concert could of ended here and I would of been more than satisfied.
But of course it was no where near over. The came back with "King For a Day," which is nothing special for me and then transitioned into "Shout" which was good but long. If anything probably the least enjoyable part of the show. At this point I felt pretty tired. There was a short break on stage with some instrument switching. Before the song I told Nate that "21 Guns" was coming and I was right. Their newest single off the album, the song has grown on me. Definitely one of those Green Day ballads but their performance of this was legendary. It really got the crowd back into it. The setlist would end with a song off their newer album "American Eulogy." This was drawn out an extra few minutes but the energy level was incredible and it was a great way to end the set.
Green Day left the stage for a few minutes while the crowd was anticipating the encore. They came back and opened with "American Idiot" which definitely got the crowd going again. The stage was pretty cool for this one as the background screen was showing some cool images to go along with the song.
The coolest part of the show came next when Billie Joe announced he needed someone to play guitar for "Jesus of Suburbia." After a few minutes he found a girl near the front and asked, "Are you sure you can play this, what cord is it in?" The girl answered C sharp and Billie Joe was like "alright get the hell on stage."
The song itself is a 9 minute classic and the girl was great. She was on point throughout the song and it was pretty amazing to watch her play this with Green Day. How is that for an experience. This video is online and is definitely worth checking out. They followed with "Minority" which got everyone including myself going crazy and jumping in the air. The show was practically over and everyone was going nuts like it was the beginning.
At the end of the song, Billie Joe thanked the crowd and gave shout outs to fellow band members Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt. The stage went dark and Billie Joe remained on, coming to the front of the stage. He ended the concert by himself with three songs all acoustic. He started with "Drama Queen" which i didnt really know but I thought was great. He followed that with "Last Night on Earth," which I think was made to be played as acoustic. One of my favorite songs on the newer album.
The last song fittingly was "Good Riddence." A great way to end what I thought was the best concert I have ever been to. So yea, 30 songs. Fucking hell of a show. They played enough old stuff to keep those fans happy while really showing off their new album, which is awesome.
Off the top of my head Green Day lists:
Best Albums: 1. Dookie 2. Warning 3. 21st Century Breakdown 4. American Idiot 5. Insomniac
Best Songs at the Concert: 1. Welcome To Paradise 2. Holiday 3. East Jesus Nowhere 4. Boulevard of Broken Dreams 5. When I Come Around/Jesus of Suburbia
Songs I Wish They Played: 1. Waiting 2. Blood Sex and Booze 3. Restless Heart Syndrome 4. Burnout 5. Pulling Teeth
And fellow concert friend Nate Grefe compiled his own lists:
Best Albums: 1. Warning (No Brainer) 2. American Idiot 3. Dookie 4. 21st Century Breakdown 5. Nimrod
Best Songs at the Concert: 1. Boulevard of Broken Dreams 2. 21 Guns 3. Minority 4. Good Riddence 5. American Idiot
Songs I Wish They Played: 1. Castaway (bastards) 2. Deadbeat Holiday 3. Waiting 4. Hitching A Ride 5. Having a Blast
Ok so yea I like Green Day. Enjoy the Monday!
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