Song of the Century

Green Day @ Sheffield Arena. Monday, October 26th 2009

On Thursday night I ended up with a Green Day ticket thanks to my cousin which, considering I'd given up hope of getting one back in May when they were released, was pretty fucking amazing. Spent all weekend learning the words to the songs on 21st Century Breakdown so I could sing along to everything and pretty much just waited till Monday night.

Got to the Arena at about 5pm (Doors were at 6) and joined a fairly small queue for the entrance...by 6.25pm when they opened the doors you couldn't see the end of the queue. Rather than sprint through to the floor we got T-shirts (which are pure sex!) and just mooched down into the arena (still ending up about 10 people back from the front). From where I was stood I was taller than alot of the people in front of me so had a pretty good view.

Ther support band were failry enjoyable. Prima Donna they were called, and they sounded like the bastard sons of a union between the New York Dolls and Hanoi Rocks but the best support act was a man in a rabbit suit who chugged 2 beers while leading all 13000 of us through the YMCA. And then it was Green Day.

Amid the strains of Song of the Century they took to the stage and all hell broke loose. For just under 3 hours we were treated to some of the greatest music that I have ever seen. The setlist went something like this...

• Song of the Century
• 21st Century Breakdown
• Know Your Enemy
• Easy Jesus Nowhere
• The Static Age
• Holiday
• Are We The Waiting
• St. Jimmy
• Give Me Novacaine
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams
• Hitchin' A Ride
• Jaded
• Brain Stew
• Longview
• Welcome To Paradise
• Murder City
• When I Come Around
• Basket Case
• She
• King For A Day
  
• Shout (Isley Brothers)/I Fought The Law (The Clash)/Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)/(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction (The Rolling Stones) Medley
• 21 Guns
• American Eulogy

Encore:

• American Idiot
• Jesus Of Suburbia
• Minority

Encore 2:

• Wake Me Up When September Ends
• Last Night On Earth
• Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)
  

Musically they were perfect but their stage show was out of this world. Everything from water guns, hoses, toilet paper launchers (for us to dry ourselves after getting soaked) and t-shirt cannons were utilised alongside pyros, ticker tape cannons and fireworks. Billy-Joe frequently got people on stage to sing with him before getting them to stage dive off the ramp and into the crowd. During Longview a member of the audience was invited to sing the entire song on one condition...Billy-Joe could cut his hair (which was round his shoulders) with a pair of scissors. One swift haircut later and the dude, now with hair cut right back to his neck, did his song and dove off into the crowd. After 2 and a half hours of pure madness, ending with a lengthy rendition of Minority in which everyone went mental, Billy-Joe came out on his own with an acoustic guitar to calm everyone down ending with a poignant Good Riddance.

I was excited about the gig but it surpassed all expectations. It truly was the greatest live show I have ever witnessed, their showmanship is rival to none and they had everybody acting like they were about 14 again. Even after 3 hours, we still wanted more despite the fact my back was killing me, I'd lost my voice and worryingly I couldn't feel my feet. Green Day may well be the Band of the Century!!!

Peace, Love, Empathy