Nottingham - Nottingham Arena, January 26th, 2005
I was there as pressie for 49th birthday, best gig I have ever been to.
Nottingham Ice Arena, 27/1/05. New Found Glory had just left, having played a rousing set. Sadly the sound wasn?t as good as it could have been (it would improve later in the week at Manchester). Their huge back drop flag was cool though!
Now a 6ft pink rabbit staggered around the stage in an apparently inebriated condition. A bottle of 'Bud' clutched in one paw. After several minutes of cavorting, dropping to the floor and leading the audience in a rendition of 'YMCA', he began pointing one-by-one to the letters emblazoned on the impressive looking drum kit behind him. The crowd howled their approval.
G-R-E-E-N - D-A-Y!!! With that, the bunny disappeared, the grenade flags were raised and amidst ear splitting canon shots, 3 figures appeared out of the darkness. Straight into 'American Idiot' - what else? After all this was the 'American Idiot' tour.
The boys from Berkley had roared into town, riding on the crest of the wave which is their status as THE band of the moment. The capacity crowd were not disappointed for a minute. Billie Joe, like a human tornado bounced around for the entirety of the almost 2 hour long set. The evening pulled many from the latest, and possibly best album to date, but lots of old standards were thrown in for good measure. Playing together for the last 15 years has given them a huge catalogue of great material to choose from.
Mike Dirnt played his heart out, lead riffs on a bass? Pretty impressive, he can sing too. Backline man Tre Cool was red hot, never missing a beat, being at times reminiscent of a spider; he seemed to have arms everywhere.
Billie Joe's interaction with the audience was a delight and his energy boundless. He couldn't resist several pops at certain countries' administrations, the inspiration behind of some of his current tunes!!
'Jesus of Suburbia' soon followed, the many changes within the piece highlighting the bands musical prowess. The rousing '?Holiday' had everyone bouncing and it wasn't long before the moshes began. During 'Minority' the entire floor-standing area moved as one. They were so tightly packed together, all wanting to get as close to the front as they could that they had little option but to keep jumping along with the rest. From our vantage point, sitting in block 5, it appeared as a sea of heads, moving in waves.
'King For A Day' saw Billie Joe donning a purple robe and crown. Strutting round the stage, he was indeed surveying his faithful realm. He had everyone eating out of his hand by now, and proved to be a great crowd-pleaser, being funny, mischievous and at times a bit risqué and naughty!!
Three fans were chosen from the crowd for the now customary segment where the band hands over their instruments for one track. The guy chosen to drum obviously knew the piece and could improvise quite happily. He finished with a roll and was then invited by Billie Joe to dive off the stage, which he did, into the receiving arms of the front row. Later as the temperature soared, 2 more were pulled to the stage to assist Billie Joe in soaking the front few rows with water from very large water canons. There were no untoward events at this juncture, unlike earlier in the week at Brixton!
The house lights were dimmed for the anthemic 'Are We The Waiting' and the impressive lighting effects made it appear as if hundreds of stars were playing over the entire gathering. Quite atmospheric.
Later in the set we were treated to an amazing rendition of 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' the one that has made Green Day known to everyone who wasn't previously aware of them.
The poignant 'Wake Me Up When September Comes' was dedicated to Johnny Ramone who died last year and again lights were dimmed. All around there were lighters and phone screens held up in the darkness making a magical starry backdrop to a wonderful ballad.
All too soon it was encore time and a cover of 'We Are The Champions' went down well, along with tons of confetti floating down over everyone. The eager participants of the mosh tried collecting as much of this as they could, savouring every moment and trying to get as much to remember the night by as they could.
Following this exhilaration, Billie Joe came alone and unaccompanied to the front of the walkway as far into the crowd as it would take him, one spotlight on him and his guitar. His last strains echoed into the night:
'I hope you had the time of your life'
Don't worry, we did!!!!
Cheers
Nottingham Ice Arena, 27/1/05. New Found Glory had just left, having played a rousing set. Sadly the sound wasn?t as good as it could have been (it would improve later in the week at Manchester). Their huge back drop flag was cool though!
Now a 6ft pink rabbit staggered around the stage in an apparently inebriated condition. A bottle of 'Bud' clutched in one paw. After several minutes of cavorting, dropping to the floor and leading the audience in a rendition of 'YMCA', he began pointing one-by-one to the letters emblazoned on the impressive looking drum kit behind him. The crowd howled their approval.
G-R-E-E-N - D-A-Y!!! With that, the bunny disappeared, the grenade flags were raised and amidst ear splitting canon shots, 3 figures appeared out of the darkness. Straight into 'American Idiot' - what else? After all this was the 'American Idiot' tour.
The boys from Berkley had roared into town, riding on the crest of the wave which is their status as THE band of the moment. The capacity crowd were not disappointed for a minute. Billie Joe, like a human tornado bounced around for the entirety of the almost 2 hour long set. The evening pulled many from the latest, and possibly best album to date, but lots of old standards were thrown in for good measure. Playing together for the last 15 years has given them a huge catalogue of great material to choose from.
Mike Dirnt played his heart out, lead riffs on a bass? Pretty impressive, he can sing too. Backline man Tre Cool was red hot, never missing a beat, being at times reminiscent of a spider; he seemed to have arms everywhere.
Billie Joe's interaction with the audience was a delight and his energy boundless. He couldn't resist several pops at certain countries' administrations, the inspiration behind of some of his current tunes!!
'Jesus of Suburbia' soon followed, the many changes within the piece highlighting the bands musical prowess. The rousing '?Holiday' had everyone bouncing and it wasn't long before the moshes began. During 'Minority' the entire floor-standing area moved as one. They were so tightly packed together, all wanting to get as close to the front as they could that they had little option but to keep jumping along with the rest. From our vantage point, sitting in block 5, it appeared as a sea of heads, moving in waves.
'King For A Day' saw Billie Joe donning a purple robe and crown. Strutting round the stage, he was indeed surveying his faithful realm. He had everyone eating out of his hand by now, and proved to be a great crowd-pleaser, being funny, mischievous and at times a bit risqué and naughty!!
Three fans were chosen from the crowd for the now customary segment where the band hands over their instruments for one track. The guy chosen to drum obviously knew the piece and could improvise quite happily. He finished with a roll and was then invited by Billie Joe to dive off the stage, which he did, into the receiving arms of the front row. Later as the temperature soared, 2 more were pulled to the stage to assist Billie Joe in soaking the front few rows with water from very large water canons. There were no untoward events at this juncture, unlike earlier in the week at Brixton!
The house lights were dimmed for the anthemic 'Are We The Waiting' and the impressive lighting effects made it appear as if hundreds of stars were playing over the entire gathering. Quite atmospheric.
Later in the set we were treated to an amazing rendition of 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' the one that has made Green Day known to everyone who wasn't previously aware of them.
The poignant 'Wake Me Up When September Comes' was dedicated to Johnny Ramone who died last year and again lights were dimmed. All around there were lighters and phone screens held up in the darkness making a magical starry backdrop to a wonderful ballad.
All too soon it was encore time and a cover of 'We Are The Champions' went down well, along with tons of confetti floating down over everyone. The eager participants of the mosh tried collecting as much of this as they could, savouring every moment and trying to get as much to remember the night by as they could.
Following this exhilaration, Billie Joe came alone and unaccompanied to the front of the walkway as far into the crowd as it would take him, one spotlight on him and his guitar. His last strains echoed into the night:
'I hope you had the time of your life'
Don't worry, we did!!!!
Cheers
