Green Day? Yes Green Day. I've seen them twice before, once at MSG, they were terrific and once, at Izod, they weren't, but whether they are on the toppermost of their game, or just muddling through, Green Day are an ace live band. Like the Who, or maybe more like like AC/DC, they have the aesthetics of a tight loud rock band but the tude of superstars. Appearances not withstanding, there is that in Billie Joe which is simulateneously deeply eccentric and also run of the mill white trash.It has been a coupla of lifetimes since Dookie, and being a grown up doesn't wear itself on Green Day. Like Blink 182, they don't do adulthood well. Maybe they are too mewlingly adolescent for the roll of grown up. They dress like ten year olds. But if left to their own devices on a stage the serious American Idiocy can a pleasure. It is a high energy downer, they are like Peter Pan with a difference: they are growing older.
Looking at the guys is a little scary, they went from a pop-punk Beastie Boys to a 50 year old rock and roller, all bald, bellyflopping in tight jeans and a black leather jacket.
And all the props on the planet, all the drunken bunnies, aint changing that dude!
The Green Day tour hits the Barclay Center on January 16th, a Wednesday for our sins, though I wouldn't be surprised if they add a couple of dates. As we speak, tix to their Iriving Plaza gig on Friday are trading hands at… $300 a pop! These lads are popular.
And yeah, I am gonna see em because: two out of the three songs off the newbie are pretty damn good. And because I've never seen em bad live on stage.