Green Day Concert Review

 
When a band has been around for nearly 20 years and has released more songs than an ipod shuffle can hold, it usually goes without saying that their set list won't contain songs from their earlier days. That was my thinking at least when I attended the Green Day show in Boston last week. I couldn't have been more wrong.

It was my sixth time seeing Green Day and I was expecting to see the same set list I had always seen. You know, the new stuff sprinkled with a hefty dose of American Idiot anthems, the classic Dookie and Warning songs and maybe even an Operation Ivy cover. 

I had been hearing through the grapevine that the set was over two hours long and the band were playing a ton of old stuff that many fans hadn't seen live in years. I was pleasantly surprised to see all the rumors hold true.

In a stunning turn of events, myself and my good friend were suddenly on the floor for this larger than life show. Billie Joe was not happy with the lack of people on the floor that night, and directed a few hundred kids to rush the stage.

After jumping the boards that were set up for hockey, my friend and I found ourselves just a few rows back from the stage. It was awe inspiring.

I had never been that close for a show of such monumental proportion. It wasn't just cool that we had a few rolls of toilet paper dumped on us from Mr. Armstrong's TP-shooting apparatus, or had a ton of blue and white confetti land on our heads, but rather that we could see this show from a new perspective.

It was so different to see the shower of sparks raining down from above you, rather than from a far, during one of Green Day's many pyrotechnic moments. It was amazing to have the band's back-up guitarist Jason White take notice of my friend's Influents shirt during a break in the set (White's earlier band). He even shot us the thumbs up.

We were able to witness 2,000 Light Years Away and Macy's Day Parade which probably half of the crowd actually knew (See video below. I'm somewhere to Armstrong's right).  In an era where a band such as Green Day have become some sort of cultural icon, it was humbling to see them play some old songs that were as punk-rock as the clubs they started playing in. And all within a packed arena. 

It was not the show I was not expecting to see. I was honestly pleased with the performance more so than any show I'd seen of theirs before. In a symbolic sense it was everything Green Day is, was and will become. 

All I can say is that I'm honored to have seen them in this lifetime. Green Day's music will be timeless, and I can say I saw them when. That's pretty sweet.