GREEN DAY
NOTHING BUT THIEVES & MAID OF ACE
WEMBLEY STADIUM
Eighty thousand people aged between twelve to seventy squeezed into a sun-drenched Wembley Stadium to witness the biggest band of their alternative meets mainstream genre do what they do best. Before the headliners, MAID OF ACE delivered a bruising, throat-stripping short set of face slapping Punk Rock. The four sisters complete their smash-and-grab appearance by dedicating the last song to their late Dad, and as they blasted through an incendiary ‘Made In England’, an old family photo was put on the giant video screens. After a slightly nervous start, NOTHING BUT THIEVES compose themselves and win over many of the immense crowd with their modern Rock resonance. The dirty pink rabbit doing the worm across the Wembley stage ushers the night-conquering heroes into the spotlight. GREEN DAY blasts away with a new tune, ‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’ before blasting through their iconic ‘Dookie’ album, which is celebrating its, wait for it, thirtieth anniversary… ’Chump’, ‘Longview’ and a breakneck ‘Welcome To Paradise’ are all aurally bear-hugged. The noise levels then hit the blue skies as ‘Basket Case’ gets the complete stadium anthem treatment, as do ‘She’ and ‘When I Come Around.’ Tre Cool teases with ‘All By Myself’ between sets before the band returns for a banging ‘Know Your Enemy’ and ‘Look Ma No Brains!’ The stupendously groundbreaking (and twenty years old!) ‘American Idiot’ album then gets played in its entirety.
The booming title track is followed by a mesmeric ‘Jesus Of Suburbia’ and a bouncing ‘Holiday’. As the sun retires, phone torches light up the stadium as ‘St.Jimmy’, a speeded up ‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’ plus the Pop-Punk classic ‘She’s A Rebel whizz by. Finally, the sold-out crowd joined as one to serenade the night sky with a spine-tingling ‘Good Riddance’. Green Day continually reinforces their reputation as the unsurpassed champion of its Punk generation. Next time they come around, you’ll know where I’ll be found.
