Green Day’s ‘Revolution Radio’ Sways Young Punks and Thrashes All Around

Green Day have managed to do something most impressive over their long and fruitful career. The band has garnered a perpetually regenerating youthful fanbase. Unlike some other solid rock acts whose fan base ages with them, Green Day pick up new fans ready to wear Hot Topic black, eager to throw down in a mosh pit and clearly eager to buy their records. Those same fans who pushed the band’s latest Revolution Radio to the top spot on Billboard’s Top 200 album chart are as familiar with the band’s twenty-two year old album Dookie as I am.

On Revolution Radio‘s release date, the band played a special show at Rough Trade in New York for fans who purchased the album in store. Over 100 people were in line by 7 am waiting for the store to open at 11. Needless to say, many fans were left out. It didn’t help that that intimate show was announced after the band had already sold out Webster Hall (a larger venue still small for them). The Webster Hall show went on sale to Green Day’s fan club first and any leftovers were gobbled up and (potentially) marked up hundreds of dollars by scalpers.

Green Day treated the Webster Hall audience to a lot of early material, oftentimes avoiding the easy hits and instead choosing to play “Private Ale”, “Christie Road”, “Stuart and the Ave”, “Basket Case” and “She”. Okay, those last two are Dookie hits but the band jammed in a lot more stuff into a tight 140 minute set. The band kicked off with “Know Your Enemy” before smashing through two Revolution Radio singles, “Bang Bang” and the title track.

Billie Joe Armstrong pulled out some of the same tricks as he would in a larger arena show, including inviting an audience member on stage to sing and then crowdsurf, as well as don some costumes for “King for a Day” medley (which includes bits of “Shout!”) but he didn’t spout a lot of political rhetoric. Brief election day chatter led to the crowd chanting “fuck Donald Trump” at one point. But it seemed that Armstrong preferred to rock out and let the lyrics toe, or rather smash, their way into the political spectrum.

SET LIST

Know Your Enemy

Bang Bang

Revolution Radio

Holiday

Letterbomb

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Longview

Private Ale

Armatage Shanks

Stuart and the Ave.

409 in Your Coffeemaker

Brat

One of My Lies

Christie Road

Burnout

Nice Guys Finish Last

Scattered

Hitchin’ a Ride

Waiting

Are We the Waiting

St. Jimmy

Basket Case

She

King for a Day (medley)

Still Breathing

Minority

[encore break]

American Idiot

Jesus of Suburbia

[second encore break for BJA acoustic set]

Ordinary World

Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

TOUR DATES

OCT 20 THE UC THEATRE BERKELEY, CA SOLD OUT

OCT 23 ARAGON BALLROOM CHICAGO, IL SOLD OUT

OCT 24 FILLMORE DETROIT, MI SOLD OUT

OCT 26 THE PAGEANT ST. LOUIS, MO SOLD OUT

JAN 10 PALAPITOUR TURIN, ITALY

JAN 11 MANDELA FORUM FIRENZE, ITALY

JAN 13 UNIPOL BOLOGNA, ITALY

JAN 14 FORUM MILAN, ITALY

JAN 16 HALLENSTADION ZURICH, SWITZERLAND

JAN 18 SAP ARENA MANNHEIM, GERMANY

JAN 19 MERCEDES BENZ ARENA BERLIN, GERMANY

JAN 21 TAURON ARENA KRAKOW, POLAND

JAN 22 TIPSPORT ARENA PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

JAN 25 SPEKTRUM OSLO, NORWAY

JAN 27 GLOBE STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

JAN 28 ARENA MALMÖ, SWEDEN

JAN 30 LANXESSE ARENA COLOGNE, GERMANY

JAN 31 ZIGGO AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

FEB 02 FOREST NATIONAL FOREST, BELGIUM

FEB 03 BERCY PARIS, FRANCE

FEB 05 FIRST DIRECT ARENA LEEDS, UNITED KINGDOM

FEB 06 MANCHESTER ARENA MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM

FEB 08 O2 ARENA LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM

MAR 01 TALKING STICK RESORT ARENA PHOENIX, AZ *

MAR 02 EL PASO COUNTY COLISEUM EL PASO, TX *

MAR 04 AMERICAN AIRLINES CENTER DALLAS, TX *

MAR 05 TOYOTA CENTER HOUSTON, TX *

MAR 07 BOK CENTER TULSA, OK *

MAR 08 VERIZON ARENA LITTLE ROCK, AR *

MAR 10 INFINITE ENERGY CENTER DULUTH, GA *

MAR 12 CONSTANT CONVOCATION CENTER NORFOLK, VA *

MAR 13 VERIZON CENTER WASHINGTON, DC *

MAR 15 BARCLAYS CENTER BROOKLYN, NY *

MAR 17 DCU CENTER WORCESTER, MA *

MAR 19 BUDWEISER GARDENS LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM *

MAR 20 FIRSTONTARIO CENTRE HAMILTON, CANADA *

MAR 22 BELL CENTRE MONTRÉAL, CANADA *

MAR 23 VIDÉOTRON CENTRE QUEBEC, CANADA *

MAR 25 PETERSEN EVENTS CENTER PITTSBURGH, PA *

MAR 27 JOE LOUIS ARENA DETROIT, MI *

MAR 28 STATE FARM CENTER CHAMPAIGN, IL *

APR 01 XCEL ENERGY CENTER ST PAUL, MN *

APR 03 WELLS FARGO ARENA DES MOINES, IA *

APR 05 1STBANK CENTER BROOMFIELD, CO *

APR 07 MGM GRAND GARDEN ARENA LAS VEGAS, NV *

APR 08 VALLEY VIEW CASINO CENTER SAN DIEGO, CA *

* – w/ Against Me!