Green Day Are Mostly Great But Need To Get To The Point

Do you remember the first band you ever liked? Do you remember the first time you saw them? You were probably really psyched, right?

That was definitely the case with me last night. Green Day were the first band I can remember liking. I was a nerdy bookworm who was raised by a mom who liked classical music and a dad who enjoyed prog rock.

But it wasn't until I was around eight years old that I'd discovered some music of my own. There was nothing in terms of my taste that set me apart and made me different from any member of my family as a young'un. There was no music in my house that I alone liked, that made me feel like I was unique. 

That changed in the middle of a fourth grade gym class, weirdly enough. Bizarrely, we had to do this excruciatingly bad line dance unit in which our teacher brought in Billy Ray Cyrus albums and made us dance to "Achy Breaky Heart" over and over. But when it came time to split off into groups and create our own routines, I couldn't get enough of the song one of the other groups was using. My group was doing some stupid dance tune, and all I could think was how I wanted to listen to this other track more.

When that group performed it was to Green Day's "Basket Case." I caught a look at the CD afterwards and saw it was on a disc called Dookie. I needed this record. But no one in my family would get it for me as a birthday gift because of the Parental Advisory sticker on the front. Eventually, I got it.

Somehow — and I don't know how — I hadn't seen Green Day live until last night. There's always a sense of excitement mixed with trepidation when you're seeing a band whose music you associate with such memories and emotions for the first time. Are they going to be as amazing as you expect? Are they going to disappoint you?

Last night, Green Day did both for me.

The first half of their set, which featured tunes from last year's 21st Century Breakdown and 2005's American Idiot, was incredible, and had it stayed at that quick, brisk, almost breathless pace throughout, the show would have ranked among the best I'd ever seen.

Billie Joe Armstrong showed me why I admire him so much and why he's one of rock's greatest living frontmen. His energy, zeal and passion for performing and sense of humour — which was best displayed when he invited a child up on stage to be "sacrificed" because Toronto was so "godless" — were on display for all to see. I couldn't help but smile to myself at the kid's age — he was eight — because I could relate to my own Green Day fandom at such a young age.

But while Armstrong's among the most skilled rockers in terms of crowd involvement, his constant "eeehhhh-ohhhhs" quickly became tiresome. And while I enjoyed his joking around on the guitar during the second half of the set — playing the openings to tracks like "Eye Of The Tiger" and Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" — it dragged the set on too long and made became pretty unnecessary pretty fast. If I wanted to see wanking I'd just go to a Joe Satriani show.

It really brought that second half, which mostly featured Green Day "old school shit" (to quote Armstrong), down. Don't get me wrong; I prefer '90s Green Day to the 2000s version of the band, though I do enjoy both. But I'd really, really have enjoyed it more if the classic rock medley between "When I Come Around" and "Brain Stew/Jaded" had been shorter, 'cause it just seemed like Green Day weren't getting to the point and the set was veering off course. It's great that Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool are able to pay homage to their influences in such a way (and to mock people like Axl Rose), but when it goes on for 10 minutes, you run the risk of losing people.

Nonetheless, it's impossible to deny how great Green Day are live and how skilled they are at performing. They're above and beyond anyone I've ever seen in terms of how they're able to work a crowd.

Kudos to Saint Alvia, too, who performed on the rooftop of the American Express Pavilion after the show. Despite being far above the (surprisingly sizeable) crowd, they managed to get people singing along with them, even though their PAs had been clumsily directing the sound that was blasting out and up, and not down towards the people. Bad acoustics be damned. They were still great.

Here's what Green Day played:

"Song Of The Century"
"21st Century Breakdown"
"Know Your Enemy"
"East Jesus Nowhere"
"Holiday"
"Viva La Gloria!"
"Give Me Novacaine"
"Letterbomb"
"Are We The Waiting?"
"St. Jimmy"
"Boulevard Of Broken Dreams"
"Nice Guys Finish Last"
"F.O.D."
"Burnout"
"Dominated Love Slave"
"J.A.R."
"Paper Lanterns"
"2000 Light Years Away"
"When I Come Around"
(Classic rock medley with "Eye Of The Tiger," "Sweet Child O' Mine," more)
"Brain Stew/Jaded"
"Longview"
"Basket Case"
"She"
"King For A Day"
(vocal medley with "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "Hey Jude," more)
"21 Guns"
"Minority"
"American Idiot" (encore)
"Jesus Of Suburbia" (encore)
"Last Night On Earth" (encore two)
"Wake Me Up When September Ends" (encore two)
"Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" (encore two)