Nothing describes a Green Day concert on the floor better than the title of a song off of Tre, “Brutal Love.” You will sweat. You will get kicked. You will get stepped on. You will get shoved. You may find yourself in a mosh pit. You may even get kicked in the head by a crowd surfer. But all the while you’re smiling because there’s no place you’d rather be than down in front, and center, at a Green Day concert.
My friends and I were about midway back when we finally made our way down to the floor at Barclays. The venue was far from capacity and the opening act (Best Coast) was far from going onstage. If this was as far as we got, that’d be fine (but we knew we’d get closer eventually).
Best Coast eventually came on and in retrospect, I enjoyed them (and it turns out I’d heard them before because they have a song on the Girls soundtrack!). But really, does Green Day need an opening anymore? It’s like giving Paul McCartney an opening act – you just don’t. Anyways, Best Coast was good, but after listening to them for 25 minutes and getting amped up with a recording of Queen (video! this video just makes me so happy), we were ready for the main event.
The lights lowered and the guys came out, the crowd on the floor moved forward (obviously), and it began. They opened with 99 Revolutions off Tre, because it’s the 99 Revolutions Tour, duh. They played a half-dozen songs off the new trilogy and then started to dig pretty deep into their catalogue (Burn Out, Going To Pasalacqua, She, etc.).
Now this side! AY-OOOOO!!
The full set list is available here. I think my favorites of the night were Stop When the Red Lights Flash, Holiday, St. Jimmy, Letterbomb, Stay the Night, and Brutal Love. Okay, I really liked all of them. But especially Stop When the Red Lights Flash. Holiday can still get a crowd going like it’s their job, as can Letterbomb. It was really cool to hear X Kid live (first time, I think?) and I was glad they closed their first set with Minority (Warning FTW!).
Side note: The lighting designs on this tour were pretty fucking fantastic. Kudos to whoever programmed those lights.
As promised in the beginning, we made our way to the front. Well, about four people deep. Not bad. Above is the packed stadium that was now entirely behind us. The crowd was amped again when their encore included American Idiot and everyone’s favorite 9-minute anthem to how much living in small town America blows, Jesus of Suburbia.
King for a Day.
St. Jimmy!
Brutal Love.
I snapped this shot at some point during the show and I’m pretty sure it captures exactly how we all felt: on air, elated, although covered in sweat. There’s no better pain than the kind you feel after a Green Day concert. Your ears are ringing, the lower half of your body is in extreme pain from three hours of jumping and dancing, you have no voice, and you’re covered in sweat.
But like I said at the beginning: there’s no place you’d rather be then right there.
That Girl Allison 