Green Day showed their fans why they are still clearly one of the best entertaining bands in the world at London’s O2 Arena on Wednesday (8th February). The Californian band who has been showcasing their punk rock for the last 30 years invited fellow Californians The Interrupters to a packed O2 Arena. The quartet showed why they were picked to support Green Day as their 11 song set was truly a treat for everyone in the arena. Having recently released their new album Say It Out Loud last year, Aimee Interrupter and the band truly rocked the shit out of the venue and put everything into their performance. The Ska Punk rock band performed their classic song A Friend Like Me that really kicked off the night in amazing fashion.
Next up was By My Side from their latest album and it seemed to me that they were just getting started with this song as thousands of people were enjoying the feel good music. This was followed by White Noise and then Take Back The Power. The Interrupters are a kind of special band that don’t come a long too often, they managed to get everyone on their feet and just enjoy some really uplifting music. Songs such as She Got Arrested and Media Sensation were a real highlight of the set as they then played a The Selector cover titled Too Much Pressure. The band finished on Family which was a great summery of the gig as it felt like everyone was brought together for that moment. The Interrupters even managed to start a circle pit where they said ‘Do it for Green Day’ which was a fantastic moment for the band. Green Day also raided the stage in fancy dress pranking the band. Overall it was a perfect way to set up Green Day as Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool were set for an incredible 30 songs.
With Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody, Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop and then The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Green Day finally went on stage as they transformed the O2 Arena in to a magical place. They started off with Know Your Enemy which was the perfect way to kick off the set. The beat to that song certainly sends shivers down your spine and it was a surreal experience. Straight away Billie Joe got someone out of the crowd to help out and as always he showed amazing character to hug the person and make them feel part of the band for that very moment. Next up was Bang Bang from their latest album Revolution Radio which always had a controversial twist to it with the lyrics ‘No Trump, no KKK, no fascist USA’ added to it. The title song of their new album was then sung that really got the crowd going and it was nice to see fans enjoying their new stuff. Another controversial twist was scene on with Holiday with the lyrics ‘No Trump, No Trump’ being repeated. Billie Joe then confessed he is a weirdo and said before ‘Tonight is about freedom, I wanna hear all the weirdos.’ Another two songs from the American Idiot album saw Letterbomb and the classic Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Green Day then played one of their older songs Longview and got someone up on stage once again dressed as superman.
There then was a contrast of new and old as Green Day played Youngblood followed by 2000 Light Years Away. Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool also put on one hell of a show with Jason White on guitar, Jason Freese on keyboard and saxophone. Billie Joe put on a rather fetching hat for Hithin’ A Ride as they then played three older songs When I Come Around, Christie Road and Burnout from the Dookie album. One thing that was a bit surprising that Green Day didn’t play arguably one of their most famous songs Wake Me Up When September Ends. They then dedicated Scattered to The Interrupters which closely followed by Minority, with a harmonica solo, from the album Warning. Are We The Waiting and St Jimmy was then performed by Green Day and the two go so well together as they do in the album.
Green Day performing Youngblood.
Then a special moment happened as Billie Joe invited a girl called Rachel, who was disabled, to the stage for their Operation Ivy cover Knowledge. The girl rocked the hell out of the lead singer’s guitar and they got to keep it. It proved Billie Joe and the band are true gentlemen and deserved a every minute of their 2 and half hour set. Another cover Do You Wanna Dance, originally by Bobby Freeman, then followed as then the brilliant King For The Day. With the song seeing a lot of saxophone, Jason Freese made sure he put on awesome show for Green Day with a great Careless Whisper solo to end it. Green Day then did a melody of songs including Shout / Always Look on the Bright Side of Life / Teenage Kicks / (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction / Hey Jude.
With Shout, drummer Tre Cool went to the stage and performed as Billie Joe took his place on the drum set. On what was the last night of the tour, Green Day then performed their latest song Still Breathing that has topped the charts with Forever Now following. Two encores then followed with American Idiot then the brilliant Jesus Suburbia that lasted around ten minutes. The second encore was an acoustic brilliance with new song Ordinary World then the classic and magical song Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life). With confetti then going down on to the thousands of fans, it was an amazing way to finish of the night in London as well as their tour!
Check out all the photos of the night below!