Green Day - Awesome As F**k Review

Green Day are probably one of the most iconic alternative bands around today. Their releases over the past decade have been monumental in terms of musical power and merchandising alike. But perhaps their greatest quality is their live show. Packed with energy, pyrotechnics and a hint of humor, a Green Day show is a sight to see... and hear.

If you've never seen the three-piece live, or are just seriously missing the chaos of the live show, then the band's new CD/DVD combo, Awesome As F**k, will scratch your itch.

The live CD is a 17 track listen through some of the best Green Day have to offer. It begins with three of their newer songs, "21st Century Breakdown", "Know Your Enemy" and "East Jesus Nowhere", before opening up into a solid mix of old school classics and previously unreleased tracks.

You'll hear "Cigarettes And Valentines" from Phoenix, AZ; "Burnout" from Irvine, CA and "Going To Pasalacqua" from Chula Vista, CA. In fact, all tracks on the live CD were recorded from shows around the globe in both 2009 and 2010. This makes for a more in depth track listing/set than that which was featured on the band's 2005 live CD/DVD combo, Bullet In a Bible (which was recorded from two shows at Milton Keynes in England).

The rest of Awesome is filled with a few classics both new and old. Songs like, "Minority" and "Longview" were put to the side to make room for "21 Guns" and "When I Come Around" - tracks that weren't in Green Day's live repertoire during their American Idiot tours.

In addition to the 17 tracks, iTunes offers three more live songs for download. Tracks include, "Letterbomb" from Chula Vista, CA; "Christie Road" from Hartford, CT and "Paper Lanterns/2,000 Light Years Away" from Alpharetta, GA.

If that wasn't impressive enough, then the live DVD will certainly blow your mind. The 17 song set, filmed in Japan, truly shows the energy and showmanship Green Day bring to the table. You'll find yourself getting swept up in the show - singing "hey-oh!" with the thousands of fans there that night.

Awesome's DVD will deliver the visual element that really sums up Green Day. From the hail of sparks raining down during "21 Guns" to the nine-minute rock showcase that is "Jesus Of Suburbia", Green Day's true power as a band shines.

And as a bonus you'll get a video performance of "Cigarettes And Valentines" just to round things out. With over an hour of live footage, the DVD will bring a full Green Day performance into your living room - sweat, emotion and eyeliner included.

As one of our correspondents noted, Awesome As F**k needs no description. It's all in the title. If all that live music doesn't put a smile on your face, you're not punk-rock. Fact.

**Special thanks to our correspondent T.B. for help with this posting**

Another Station, Another Mile DVD Review

Rise Against recently entered the studio to begin work on their follow up to 2008's Appeal To Reason, but not before giving fans a real introspective into their band. Last week, the Chicago quartet released a documentary DVD entitled, Another Station, Another Mile, which outlines everything from their live show and touring to recording and their daily lives.

The DVD has 14 live songs performed at six different venues across the globe. Footage was taken from their summer 2009 shows at the House of Blues in Boston, Chicago's Lollapalooza, Germany's Area 4 Festival and even an acoustic performance by lead singer Tim McIlrath in a Budapest subway.

Another Station comes packed with an ability to hook the viewer from beginning to end. That's most likely due to the way the footage has been structured. Unlike most every other music DVD, Another Station jumps between one live performance and a few minutes of actual documentary.

That's probably the brilliance of it. One minute you're watching a live rendition of "Survive" at Lollapalooza, and the next you're watching drummer Brandon Barnes shop for vintage cars. It's not just one straight concert with backstage bonus footage like a ton of other music "documentaries" out there.

Besides music and interviews, the DVD is packed with Rise Against describing their local music scenes, a profile on their crew, and of course, a touch of the band's views on politics and animal rights. Everything is summed up nicely.

As far as the actual footage goes, most cuts have been done well. The live footage is clear, covered from a variety of angles and most importantly, left completely unedited.

In fact, the documentary opens with the following statement from Rise Against:

"Since we put together our last DVD, the snowball that is Rise Against is still gathering size and speed. What you hold in your hands is the continuing story of our band, what it means to us, and what it means to people like you. At our request, all the live footage you see in the DVD is completely unedited; meaning we didn't go back and fix or re-do anything. We felt it should stand or fall on its own merit, and be embraced for what it is, which is live music. Who knows, maybe we'll feel differently next year. But for now, the moments are captured raw as we make our way to another station: another mile."

The sound quality remains clear, and because of the unedited nature of the live performances, every vocal inaccuracy and tuning mishap (though few and far between) is represented.

So is this worth your 11 bucks? If you're into Rise Against, even in the slightest, it's a must have. As mentioned, it's one of the few documentaries that's an actual documentary. Plus, it will hold you over until their new record is released in spring 2011. You can't go wrong.