2008 Woodie Awards
Green Day rocks the house
Band promotes "American Idiot" album
Cory Pittman
Issue date: 12/3/04 Section: No Limits
- Page 1 of 1
To close out the tour promoting their new album, "American Idiot," Green Day made their way to the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco.
The bands opening the show were Sugarcult, and New Found Glory. Both mentioned how great of a privilege it was to be playing a show with the legendary Green Day.
The age range was quite wide, from middle-aged adults, to young teenagers who were possibly attending their first concert. There were even a few parents wandering through the crowd looking for their kids.
The venue sold out quickly after the tickets went on sale. The auditorium was filled to the brim with fans. Before the show a line had formed outside the door, around the side of the building, across the street, and down the front of a parking garage.
Inside the venue, on floor level there was much pushing, shoving, squishing, falling and swaying in the crowd. Even when there was no music playing, the majority of the floor level was squished together, tripping, and the crowd swayed back and forth, left and right.
The energy in the crowd was high when the bands hit the stage. Throughout the floor level people were smashed, or bumping into each other.
At no time was there as big a response as to Green Day, though. During their set they did well on mixing up older songs with newer songs, even though the show was mainly to promote their new album.
There was tender appreciation between the band and the audience, with much crowd participation encouraged and received.
The best example was the classic section of the show where members of the audience were invited up on stage to actually play Green Day's instruments during a cover of the song, "Knowledge," originally done by Operation Ivy.
For this part of the show, lead singer Billie Joe asked for a drummer, a bassist, and guitar player from the crowd to come up on stage and play the instruments in the song.
This has been done before throughout many of Green Day's tours. This was the first time I had seen him give away a guitar to the person who was invited up to play it. The bassist was asked to stage dive, and the offer was accepted with a smile.
The rest of the set was mixed with fast-paced music, and slower, more emotional songs. Pyrotechnics were common throughout their set, as were a number of specially designed lighted banners dropping in and out. There was even a shower of red and white confetti thickly covering the entire floor area.
As usual, Tre' Cool destroyed his drum set at the end of the show, and stacked the pieces on top of each other, and Billie Joe came out to the front of the stage with guitar in hand, and played "Good Riddance," to close out the night in typical Green Day fashion. Everyone's attention held to the last minute when Billie Joe and bassist Mike Dirnt, waved goodbye with smiles on their faces.
In the end, Green Day have not lost their touch in putting on an exciting show to shock and amaze the crowd. The tour has ended, but they are sure to be back in the near future.
The bands opening the show were Sugarcult, and New Found Glory. Both mentioned how great of a privilege it was to be playing a show with the legendary Green Day.
The age range was quite wide, from middle-aged adults, to young teenagers who were possibly attending their first concert. There were even a few parents wandering through the crowd looking for their kids.
The venue sold out quickly after the tickets went on sale. The auditorium was filled to the brim with fans. Before the show a line had formed outside the door, around the side of the building, across the street, and down the front of a parking garage.
Inside the venue, on floor level there was much pushing, shoving, squishing, falling and swaying in the crowd. Even when there was no music playing, the majority of the floor level was squished together, tripping, and the crowd swayed back and forth, left and right.
The energy in the crowd was high when the bands hit the stage. Throughout the floor level people were smashed, or bumping into each other.
At no time was there as big a response as to Green Day, though. During their set they did well on mixing up older songs with newer songs, even though the show was mainly to promote their new album.
There was tender appreciation between the band and the audience, with much crowd participation encouraged and received.
The best example was the classic section of the show where members of the audience were invited up on stage to actually play Green Day's instruments during a cover of the song, "Knowledge," originally done by Operation Ivy.
For this part of the show, lead singer Billie Joe asked for a drummer, a bassist, and guitar player from the crowd to come up on stage and play the instruments in the song.
This has been done before throughout many of Green Day's tours. This was the first time I had seen him give away a guitar to the person who was invited up to play it. The bassist was asked to stage dive, and the offer was accepted with a smile.
The rest of the set was mixed with fast-paced music, and slower, more emotional songs. Pyrotechnics were common throughout their set, as were a number of specially designed lighted banners dropping in and out. There was even a shower of red and white confetti thickly covering the entire floor area.
As usual, Tre' Cool destroyed his drum set at the end of the show, and stacked the pieces on top of each other, and Billie Joe came out to the front of the stage with guitar in hand, and played "Good Riddance," to close out the night in typical Green Day fashion. Everyone's attention held to the last minute when Billie Joe and bassist Mike Dirnt, waved goodbye with smiles on their faces.
In the end, Green Day have not lost their touch in putting on an exciting show to shock and amaze the crowd. The tour has ended, but they are sure to be back in the near future.