"21st Century Breakdown"- Green Day

Green Day-Webster Hall-5/19/09
For anyone who doesn't know, Green Day is one of the top tier musical artists in my life. They're up there with Bon Jovi and Billy Joel as the three artists that have really gotten me through a lot and opened up numerous other musical avenues to me. I got into to Green Day when I was young, and had all of their albums burned for the longest time. When American Idiot came out, I fell in love. In the five years since that record came out, I've listened to it probably 400 times in full, let alone listening to the songs on their own. Since 21st Century Breakdown came out last Friday, I've listened to it in full 12 times, and several of the songs have broken into my normal song rotation already. Suffice to say, I could not be more psyched to see my second Green Day show (first was at Giants Stadium in '05) at the super small Webster Hall (I owe Lauren a portion of my soul for that one)



Setlist:

-Song of The Century

1. 21st Century Breakdown

2. Know Your Enemy

3. East Jesus Nowhere

4. Before The Lobotomy

5. Last Of The American Girls

6. Murder City

7. ?Viva la Gloria? (Little Girl)

8. The Static Age

9. 21 Guns

10. American Eulogy

11. See The Light

12. American Idiot

13. Jesus of Suburbia

14. St. Jimmy

15. Longview

16. Coming Clean

17. At the Library

18. 80

19. Basket Case

20. She

21. Surrender (Cheap Trick Cover)

22. King For A Day

23. Shout (Isley Brothers Cover with elements of Earth Angel and Stand By Me)

24. Minority



First off, one really cool bit. To open the show, all the lights are turned off, thad the Ramones "Do You Remember Rock N' Roll Radio?" was played, which is my ALL-TIME favorite Ramones track. The setlist itself was somewhat surprising, but really good. I was expecting the band to play the whole new record, but 11 of the 18 tracks was damn good, especially when all of the standout tracks (or at leas the standout tracks in my mind) were played. Much like the Idiot material, the 21st material sounds even better live, especially Know Your Enemy. From the end of Longview until Surrender, the set was really somewhat improv. Older tracks and audience requests were played, including Basket Case which hadn't been played at the previous night's fan club show. The cover of Surrender was out of left field, but was ****ing spectacular. Ending the show on Minority was a great touch, and all in all it was a great set, though the lack of encore with Good Riddance or Boulevard of Broken Dreams surprised me, but this was more of a release party then a legit show. I'm waiting for the Garden in July for that. The show itself was certainly an experience. Lauren and I were able to move pretty close to the front, but as soon as the show started we ended up getting split up by the pit. I must say, I'm still not really sure about the mosh pit experience. I mean, I was slamming and enjoying myself a great deal, but at points it just got too distracting, so I ended up moving around the floor a lot, especially to avoid the over the top drunks.I was frankly shocked and impressed with myself that I was able to do all that, while still taking over 100 photos AND taking down the WHOLE setlist in my phone while getting smashed. Interestingly enough, there were a lot of record company/radio types about the crowd, one of whom, followed me around whenever I moved. This guy had to be about 45 years old, and I realized about halfway through the show that I was basically his human sheild, since I was basically only defensively moshing by Jesus of Suburbia. The guy didn't say anything to me until the band played Surrender, and the two of us were the only ones in our area who knew the lyrics. All the while it was an awesome night, with an interesting ferry ride afterwards...LOL Lauren, just LOL.

I'm glad to see you had a great time! I'm glad they didn't play boulavard, as it is the most over rated on the am cd. Their choice of 80 is a little odd, time of your life should have replaced it. I'll be seing green day for the 3rd time in July, and am phsyked For it.... I've been looking forward to the concert just as much as my last jovi show over a year ago....

80 was a special request. Ealier on in the day, they walked the line for a bit greeting people (I hadn't arrived yet, but my friend had), and someone essentially begged Billy to play the song. And I love Boulevard, so I can't say I agree. Though the set worked amazing without it.

Hopefully they won't play too much of the first 2 albums live as they are not as good as there other records. I'm still looking for when I come around to show up, as it didn't get played at all during to ai tour. And for a gd concert, time of your life is essential. I'm actually suprised though. Last tour was a 19 song set every day. Hopefully they will keep up with the longer sets!

I know, I saw them on the AI Tour. This wasn't a tour show, and the set shouldn't be looked at as one. It was essentially a release party/club show. I wouldn't expect Pre-Dookie stuff to show up to show up often if ever on the real tour, and I doubt much from Insomniac, Nimrod, or Warning will show up much, except for the major singles. As for Good Riddance being essential, I agree, but it worked without it last night. And I to am dying for When I Come Around to come back. My favorite song on Dookie. Which reminds, I need to buy a new copy of that record.

The songs called time of your life. The title of the song completely contradicts the lyrics. And billy only last min changed the song name because he had a bad break up with his girlfriend. Good riddance, but I hope you had the time of your life? WTF?

Uh, no. The name of the song is Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). The whole song is one big kiss off, veiled as a romantic ballad, essentially saying "We're done, and I hope you never find better"

I read that time of your life was written for dookie, but was pulled off last minute because he didn't feel it belonged on the record, and was originally named time of your life. When he added it to nimrod, he added a new name to it, good riddance. Don't know the full story completely, but I remember reading about it a few years ago.

Actually, the "name change" happened before the first version of the song was released as a B-Side on the Brain Stew single.

Okay whatever, you obviously no this shit better than me.