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| Sheffield, 10/26/2009 |
| T in the Park, 07/10/2005 |
| Milton Keynes, 06/18/2005 |
| Vancouver, 11/17/2004 |
| Tokyo, 08/07/2004 |
| Los Angeles, 07/29/2004 |
| Avenches, 08/16/2001 |
| Milano, 12/03/2000 |
| Zürich, 02/17/1997 |
| Neuchâtel, 03/17/1996 |
| Winterthur, 09/09/1995 |
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~ Green Day ~
21st Century Breakdown Tour
Sheffield, England @ Sheffield Arena
Monday 26th October 2009
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Words and photos by Danielle Millea, 10/27/09
 See more photos on this Flickr set.
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What can I say, this band know how to throw a party! The Prima Donna's take to the stage (a little late) and do a grand job of warming us up, with Kevin Tyler Preston, frontman for Prima Donna and guitarist for Foxboro Hot Tubs, slinging his guitar in leopard skin clothes and sporting the same hair do as the rest of the band, very near to a mullet! Their grimy rock is a nice start to the evening, but you know who we are waiting for... |
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| The pink bunny comes on and downs two beers, falls over a lot of stage, fraternises with the kids in the pit and generally fills the gap again until the trio from East Bay arrive. The sound of 'Song Of The Century' fills the air. Suddenly Tré Cool zooms his way over the stage, using his drum sticks as imaginary plane wings, Mike Dirnt takes huge strides across the platform and the cheers increase as Billie Jo Armstrong runs on too. Then it's straight into album namesake '21st Century Breakdown'. The stage and backdrop look amazing, like a huge skyline of a broody city. |
| For 'Know Your Enemy' Billie plucks a terrified looking teenager out of the crowd onto the part of the stage that extends into the pit, and sends him back in again with a stage dive. 'East Jesus Nowhere' follows, then they move back an album into 'Holiday' which equals a bouncy crowd! The gas mask on the back drop with static in the eyes is great to watch along to 'The Static Age'. |
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| A girl is pulled onstage to wave and sing along to 'Are We The Waiting', probably giving the band a little breather as the show so far has been top throttle. 'St. Jimmy' picks up the pace again, before another dip into slow time with 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams'. |
| Billie then shouts what I have been waiting for « Are there any old school fans in the house? I mean the really old fuzzy stuff. » There I am waving like a madman. It's then into 'Welcome to Paradise', the 'Dookie' version I must emphasise and not the 'Kerplunk' one. The late start of the show (well, late by Green Day standards on this tour) means that the 25 minutes had to be taken out, so we miss anything pre Dookie, which I am very sad about, looking at past setlists for these recent shows ('2,000 Light Years Away' or 'Going To Pasalacqua' would have made my year). However we do get a good handful of tracks for us oldies, like 'When I Come Around', 'Basket Case' and the excellent 'She'. |
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| Billie gets another kid up (soon the whole crowd will have been onstage!!) after asking for a young child. He just happens to be called Max Armstrong.! « Say hello to my brother! » laughs Billie. For 'Longview' Billie asks the lad with chest length hair if he can cut it. After a nervous glance at his friends the lad sheepishly agrees, to which Billie is handed a pair of scissors from one of the band's crew and hacks the kid's hair to chin length! He then passes him the mic to sing the song on masturbation, to which the kid does a job, like a real pro! |
| 'Brain Stew' and it's conjoined sibling 'Jaded' are thrown into the mix as usual, along with a snippet of 'Iron Man' by Black Sabbath, Metallica's 'Masters Of Puppets' and even Duran Duran's 'Rio'! |
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| This band can never be accused of being depressing, with industrial (!) water pistols, a gun that blows toilet roll (unused, phew) over the crowd and many, many balls of fire and canons firing confetti during the show, making the crowd of people ranging from young children to the middle-aged and beyond witness a truly unforgettable show. The videos on the backdrop look awesome too, with one part having old fanzine cut outs flying around, and another varying between making the band look 3D and then like squiggly lines... |
| 'King For A Day' sees the fun continue as everyone in the band, along with Jason White and Jason Freese all don silly hats. The sight of Tré Cool leaving his drums for a second to sing a bit of Katy Perry in a sombrero and red bra is hilarious, he should come to the front more often. After the addition of the Isley Brother's 'Shout' and Ben E. Kings 'Stand By Me' we even get a saxophone solo with the Benny Hill theme tune! |
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| Then its back into serious mode (well, serious for Green Day) with Gold single '21 Guns' showing the entire arena waving and singing along. Then a track from 'Warning'! 'Minority' pumps up the crowd again, it's like being on a rollercoaster! |
| The first encore, after a very short break, sees 'American Idiot' and 'Jesus Of Suburbia' in its entirety. The second encore sees Billie thank us for supporting them over the last 21 years, and then he plays an acoustic melody under a single spotlight containing 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' and 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)'. |
| A truly amazing show. These guys have really hit the big time now, as more and more people catch onto their live shows that beat all others. They have hit on a winning formulae that will keep on attracting various generations with their mixture of videos, lights, explosions, fun songs and attitude, serious messages, tight performances and crowd participation. All I can say is please play more older stuff, pre Dookie, just for me! Here's to another 21 years and another '21 'water' guns' lads! |
See more photos on this Flickr set.
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