Saturday 29/01/05 Green Day, New Found Glory @ M.E.N. Arena, Manchester

Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre’ Cool have been together as Green Day for over 15 years, and 2004 saw them re-established themselves with the album ‘American Idiot’ and a top-of-the-bill slot at the Carling Festival. Tonight’s audience is a mixture of old and young, who serve to illustrate the band’s mass appeal – or that many kids have nagged their parents into bringing them here.  Either way, we first have New Found Glory, one of the many punk-pop bands that have benefited from the headliners’ success.   Tracks like ‘My Friends Over You’ and ‘Dressed To Kill’ go down great with people aged 15, everyone else thinks that Green Day have a lot to answer for.  After they have vacated, a man in a pink rabbit suit takes to the stage and leads the dance to the Village People’s ‘YMCA’ – which is actually more fun than the support band, who annoyingly shouted “Manchester!” at all opportunities for a cheap cheer.

Armstrong also has a habit of shouting “Manchester!” whenever he wants the crowd to cheer.  It’s annoying, and for him very unnecessary as most in attendance would scream if he farted.  Tracks from their latest album are performed clinically, beginning with ‘American Idiot’, ‘Jesus Of Suburbia’ and latest single ‘Holiday’.  Lighters are waved during ‘Are We The Waiting’, and Armstrong has his fun with water pistols and showing off his breakdancing skills.  A now customary part of the Green Day show sees members of the audience plucked out and playing on stage – tonight’s band is christened Busted, to the laughter of those in the arena.  It is a particular highlight because they can all actually play, and Armstrong plants a full on kiss on the startled guitarist before informing him he gets to keep the guitar.

As expected, the band plays a selection of crowd pleasers from their back catalogue.  ‘Longview’ goes down well with Dirnt’s distinctive bassline and ‘Basket Case’ has the arena rocking.  A cover of Lulu’s ‘Shout!’ is an excuse for all to dance and yell, while ‘Minority’ is a great knees-up – the only glaring omission is ‘When I Come Around’.  Predictably, the finale is a solo performance of ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’ by Armstrong, set to a backdrop of lighters.  It is a truly hair-raising moment, and means Gigwise and everyone else leaves on a high.  Having spent much of the time on stage directing the crowd, berating George Bush, and generally messing about, that final song ensures Green Day will always be set apart from the likes of their support band. 

Photos by Shirlaine Forrest