"do you have the time, to listen to me whine..." (Green Day - Live)

Member Name: ManUtdBoi

Product:	Green Day - Live
Date:	09/02/05 (5448 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: everything

Disadvantages: nothing

Date - 6th February 2005

Venue - Carling Hammersmith Apollo, Hammersmith, London

Main Act - Green Day

Support - New Found Glory

~~~ The Venue ~~~

The venue in itself was an absolute joy, providing comfortable seating with decent views of the band and the surrounding area in general. Having been an old cinema, the seats were previously catered to allow a prime view of the stage area, and luckily that hasn’t been compromised since it’s renovation to an ‘events’ arena. The Apollo itself, has hosted some of the main players in modern music over the last 10 years, yet never a band of the ‘gigging’ calibre of Green Day. Their reputation as one of the best live bands in the world was immediately evident by the rather lengthy (and tiresome) queuing system, but more about that later. As I say, it’s past life as a major cinema, in fact the biggest in the country, left it as a prime candidate for a concert venue, already having seating arrangements and a large stage area suitable for such events. Organisation within the venue was an absolute joy, within seconds of (finally) entering the venue, I was already in my seat awaiting the nights events. The Apollo rather oddly still has the old cinema seating in the balcony area, making it a rather tight squeeze for certain concert-goers, but not something that I personally had to worry about.

~~~ Queuing ~~~

Now for the fun part. Popularity of the band aside, the queuing system that the Apollo uses is nothing short of a nightmare. Doors for the gig opened at 7pm, with the support band starting their set at 7:45 - needless to say I missed them entirely. What causes such chaos within the whole palaver of queuing, is the security checks at the arena entrance, with each and every individual checked in a professional manner, causing a queue that easily reached round the entire block at least once. Fears did begin to arise around 8:30 as to whether we’d miss the start of Green Day’s set, but luckily they didn’t begin until 9:15, allaying any possible fears that lingered as to the night being ruined by such a irrelevant area of the whole affair.

~~~ Merchandise ~~~

The fun area of any gig, the area where you get to leave with something to remember the night, but also the area that severely damages your pocket. Having only been to two concerts, I can only judge on what I’ve seen, but the Hammersmith Apollo’s charges of £18 for a t-shirt and £8 for a flimsy program rather comes across as something of a con - needless to say though, I caved in to both and left a very happy bunny indeed. The selection though, left something to be desired, with the support act gaining as much on their merchandise than Green Day themselves did, largely due to the minimal choices on t-shirts. But of course, when considered what’s to come, you don’t worry about little things such as that.

T-Shirts

~ Green Day - £18
~ New Found Glory - £18

Program - £8

~~~ Support Act ~~~

So-Cal punkers New Found Glory had the arduous task of supporting modern rocks finest band, and as much as I’d love to comment on their set, I can’t. Fact being, as mentioned earlier, the horrendous queuing system caused 90% of the audience to miss their set, in favour of encountering the lovely, chilly, Hammersmith weather. From what could be heard outside the venue, they were pretty loud, but that’s as far as I can go unfortunately.

~~~ Intermission ~~~~

After entering ‘The Circle’ just as New Found Glory closed their set, all eyes were now glued to the stage as the roadies laid out Green Day’s instruments and tested the relevant lighting system to ensure everything was in working order. This included, surely a health and safety issue, a guy clambering up the stage on a harness to survey the lighting rig and, again, check everything was working and no possible faults were to be found. The PA system played out various songs during the break, including old classics by The Beastie Boys and Rancid, whilst awaiting what was to come. As we entered the arena at, roughly 8:30, come 9:15 there was the odd enquiry as to exactly when Green Day were to begin their set, with some suggesting the Apollo may have a licence agreement to close around 11pm due to the sound effecting the local area. Luckily this wasn’t the case in the end, and Green Day were left to happily rock along through the entirety of their set-list. Tension was evidently high, with the large majority of the people in attendance, unlikely to have experienced such a concert before, all waiting with the exact same butterflies in the stomach that I was experiencing.

At this point, the infamous Green Day pink bunny arrived on stage, beer in hand, prepared to gee up the audience ahead of the real fun. Known to generally down two beers, the bunny only drank the one on this occasion, choosing to stay fairly sober during his rendition of ‘YMCA’, a segment of the night that got the audience warmed up, singing along to the karaoke favourite with a giant rabbit….how odd we must be.

~~~ Main Act ~~~

If negativity is such a thing, you aren’t gonna find it here !

As the band burst onto the stage, taking the bunny with them, Billie Joe stood in the centre milking every bit of applause that he received. Everyone knew what was coming, the night was about to begin, and it was to be one that I, and many others, will never forget. Opening with American Idiot, the lead single from the album of the same name, it was easy to tell that you were in the presence of true entertainers who knew how to work a crowd, with Billie working each and every corner of the stage from the off, leading a rendition of the chorus to eerie perfection. As the band finished the opening track, a blistering explosion went off aside Tre’s drum set, providing searing heat into the arena and a great close to such a fine song. A request to “wake up all those red-necks in America” followed, before the band burst into their longest song to date, Jesus Of Suburbia, providing nine minutes of sing along anthem and great stage presence from the band themselves, the night had only just begun.

The heat coming from the stage, coupled with the body heat from the audience, made the arena something of a furnace, but if anything, it added to the electric atmosphere that was building up at frightening pace. As Billie Joe had his first pop at that “f*cker” George W. Bush, he received rapturous support for the bands crusade against Bush’s regime and downright poor handling of his countries affairs, something that has, quite frankly, got Billie’s goat. He dedicated the next song, Holiday, to Bush, declaring his love for playing in London as he went along, stating that this is by far the best UK tour of Green Day’s long, prestigious career. If there were an award for crowd interaction, then Green Day would win every time, getting the audience involved at every possible opportunity - whether it be Billie Joe stating he intended to get naked, inducing the crowd into a tirade against the French, or just a good old fashioned sing along, it was nothing like I could have wished for.

Are We The Waiting provided the first ‘lighter’ moment of the night, with the audience either holding aloft their lighter, or using their phone as an alternative. It’s scenes like that which make you remember so vividly the atmosphere and energy of the night, waving your arms aloft, from side to side and back again, all in unison with Billie himself. With it leading directly into St.Jimmy, the band played their first real ‘punk’ moment of the night, challenging the audience to keep along with the blistering pace and energy that the band conveyed. When time came for the Green Day classics that everyone knew, the screams were so loud it’s surprising that the roof didn’t come off the venue, with the balcony area po-going up and down beneath you, it’s an experience like no other. Longview, taken from the now legendary ‘Dookie’ album, received a blistering welcome, sing alongs induced and Billie Joe loving every second of it. Hitchin A Ride and Brain Stew followed on, seemingly passing at double speed as to be finishing just a little to soon for the audience’s liking, but hey, it was fun while it lasted.

The highlight of the night, if there truly was just one, was the cover of Operation Ivy’s ‘Knowledge’, a track which was to include a trio of musicians from the crowd, given the chance to get up on stage and play the band’s actual instruments. The guitarist in particular seemed to be having a blast, milking every second he had with Billie’s guitar before being informed he had to do a stage dive if he was to keep the guitar…needless to say, he jumped. That being the highlight of the night, the song of the night was only seconds away, with the intro all that was needed to turn the Apollo into one big rendition of the bands classic ‘Basketcase’ - “do you have the time, to listen to me whine, about nothing and everything all at once”…..hell yeah. The heat at this point was nothing short of stifling, with the pyrotechnics adding to the excitement and the wave of blistering explosions giving the audience the occasional surprise, the night was, unfortunately beginning to come to an end.

Having dimmed down, the lights slowly focused on Billie Joe, now sporting a rather fetching crown, prior to bursting in to ‘King For A Day‘, another good old favourite of the fans. Tre, with an equally attractive pink hat, began launching his supply of drum sticks to every corner of the stage, making you wonder just how many he had back there. After the melee of covering Lulu’s ’Shout’, the band introduced without doubt, the most poignant moment of the night. Wake Me Up When September Ends, enough to induce a tear as it is, was dedicated to Joey Ramone, leaving the arena a sea of lighters and emotive sing alongs, with Billie Joe evidently moved himself, it was a very touching thing for the band to do in memory of the former Ramones band member. They are a band that influenced Green Day massively in their younger days, leaving it as obvious choice to dedicate such a song to such a legend. A blistering ‘Minority’ closed the show, or so we thought, getting the audience along for the ride, drowning out Billie’s vocals with relative ease. But of course, it wasn’t over yet….

“GREEN DAY, GREEN DAY, GREEN DAY, GREEN DAY, GREEN DAY”

Rousing chants encouraged the band back for more, rolling straight in to Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, hitting every note with precision and ease, with the crowd helping along without request. Billie Joe, now sporting a red shirt as opposed to his black one of five minutes ago, seemed instantly invigorated as if he could have gone on for a lot longer yet, but unfortunately we knew the end was nigh. ‘Dookie’ classic When I Come Around was another of the highly anticipated tracks of the night, with fans welcoming the old as much, if not more, than the new material. As a fitting ode to Green Day themselves, the band performed the Queen classic ‘We Are The Champions’, in the end, sung by the fans toward Green Day themselves, with Billie Joe lapping up the acclaim just as he should. Having hopped from one side of the stage to the other all night long, it came time for Billie to close the night out the only way he knows how. Mike and Tre, having left the stage, watched on as Billie performed an electric guitar version of the legendary ‘Good Riddance (Time Of You Life)’, with the audience, myself included, giving the song the respect it deserved, whilst waving the lighters aloft once again.

~~~ My Opinion ~~~

It was a fitting end to what, frankly, was the greatest night of my life. I thank Green Day for putting on the greatest show possible, playing the old as well as the new, and being an absolute pleasure to waste a Sunday evening on. Safe to say I’m now buying tickets to their second Milton Keynes gig in June, knowing that nothing on that level could top the intimacy of such a performance in the Hammersmith Apollo. Despite missing the support act, I saw what I came for, I loved it, and I’ll be there again next time. Green Day's reputation as one of the best live bands on the planet was under the microscope last night, and I can safely say that they pass the test with flying colours - energy to burn, enthusiasm by the bucket load, and a respect for their fans that will never die.....thanks guys.

~~~ Set List ~~~

1) American Idiot
2) Jesus Of Suburbia
3) Holiday
4) Are We The Waiting
5) St.Jimmy
6) Longview
7) Hitchin A Ride
8) Brain Stew/Jaded
9) Knowledge
10) Basket Case
11) She
12) King For A Day/Shout
13) Wake Me Up When September Ends
14) Minority

Encore:

15) Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
16) When I Come Around
17) We Are The Champions
18) Time Of Your Life

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THANK YOU GREEN DAY !

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