Punk rockers go baggy green for a day at the SCG
Iain Shedden, Music writer
14dec05
IT would surely add spice to Australian cricket if the hallowed pitch of the Sydney Cricket Ground had an area marked Idiot Zone.
Ducks, dropped catches and bad haircuts could be punished with a spell in the loony bin.
Tonight, however, that area of the SCG will be reserved for the more energetic fans of US punk-pop band Green Day. The group rounds off its hugely successful American Idiot world tour with the Sydney show tonight and another at Melbourne's Telstra Dome on Saturday.
More than 33,000 fans of the Californian trio will attend each show, with about a quarter of them packed into the Idiot Zone near the stage. Yesterday, before the band's press conference, bassist Mike Dirnt was the only one to grab a cricket bat and have a go on the SCG turf.
"It's something I've wanted to do forever," Dirnt said. "I've seen cricket in different parts of the world. I still don't have a clue what the hell is going on, but maybe I have a better clue now than I had before."
Green Day is currently one of the most successful rock acts in the world. Their album American Idiot, released last year, has sold more than 10 million copies, 372,000 of those in Australia.
It won best rock album at this year's Grammys and the group has collected a swag of other awards this year.
Singer and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong said the political content on the album and its snapshot of modern American culture had broadened the band's scope and its fan base.
"We're a little surprised by the success of it," he said.
"When you look at it, a career is up and down. We had reached a point where we had a regular fan base. With American Idiot we ended up branching outside of that with younger people and older people getting into it."
The stadium performances will include material from the latest album alongside earlier hits such as Time of Your Life, Welcome to Paradise and Basket Case.
Green Day toured Australia in March as part of the American Idiot tour. After Saturday's performance in Melbourne they will fly home for Christmas before beginning their next album
