Green Day Review -- Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne 13th December
15 December 2009
As I followed the sea of black t-shirts and converse sneakers to Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne last night, I was wondering whether the rumours circling the nation were true...Apparently 3 dudes in their late 30's were pulling off a 3 hour rock show that kept the crowd gagging for more?!
Turns out the rumours were true...Green Day are very very impressive.
Check out Green Day pics from the concert!
After some 'interesting' pre-match entertainment from a guy dressed in rabbit suit (Tre Cool anyone?), Green Day burst onto the stage at the school-night friendly hour of 8pm and launched into recent hits '21st Century Breakdown' and 'Know Your Enemy'.
VIDEO: Green Day - 21st Century Breakdown
To say the band is hard working would be a massive understatement. Billie Joe (front man) has the energy of a 14 year old jacked up on litres of red cordial, and Tre Cool (drummer) and bassist Mike Dirnt aren't far behind. Their ridiculous energy was kept up for the majority of the 3 hour set as they asked fans up onto the stage for sing-a-longs and persuaded them to stage dive, much to the horror of security.
In many ways, the 3 piece from California haven't really grown up. The band's constant use of water guns, toilet roll guns, t-shirt guns and the occasional piece of fancy dress had me reminiscing of muck-up day at school. But the crowd absolutely lapped it up, young and old.
However, nothing really gets a crowd going like a good pyrotechnic display. Just incase you were starting to fade away in the second hour, the boys made sure that nearly every song finished with a bang or featured ludicrous shots of fire. This was especially prevalent when the 3 piece performed some classics from their 1994 breakthrough album 'Dookie'. The big hits 'Welcome To Paradise', 'When I Come Around' and 'Longview' sent the crowd off, especially after a tone-deaf teenage girl was invited on stage to sing the chorus. (She'll be telling everyone about her one night in December for years...)
VIDEO: Green Day - Welcome To Paradise
Green Day also ensured they'd leave the country with a second home after a ripping cover of AC/DC's 'Highway To Hell' complete with Billie Joe sporting devil horns.
My only criticism of an otherwise solid rock concert would be the incessant, 'I say Hey, and you say Ho...Hey Ho Hey Ho', but hey, maybe I'm just showing my age? And if I'm really going to sink my teeth in and risk being slaughtered by Melbourne's diehard Green Day community, they probably could have avoided doing the extended version of the extended version of the extended version of a song. (You get my drift).
After pulling out the big hits 'American Idiot' and 'Jesus Of Suburbia' during the encore, the band certainly cemented why they are still one of the most exciting and hardest working bands in the business. Not bad for a bunch on punks in their late 30s.
Review by Kate Yencken
The Hot Hits Live in LA Team
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