East Rutherford, NJ Giants Stadium, August 31st, 2005
Last night I had the opportunity to see Green Day in their only scheduiled New York appearance. As one who loves American Idiot, I was looking forward to seeing Billie Joe and the boys show the sold out meadowlands audience why they are the hottest band in rock and roll today.
Unfortunately the concert in my opinion was a disapointment. When the band played, there was nothing better. The problem was they did not play enough. While we did hear a good portion of the songs from American Idiot, as well as some real nifty encores, I calculated that of the two hour performance, the band played just over eighty minutes of music. The rest of the performance was composed of Billie Joe asking the crowd to do different rock chants and see which side of the sold out arena could be louder.
The cheerleading went on way to long and quite frankly was a real 'buzz kill'. These shenanigans continued when the band invited audience members to play instruments on stage. While I am all for audience participation – this was totally uneccesary, and a huge waste of time. I am a huge fan of mr. Armstrong and it is easy to understand why he is viewed as one of the most compelling perfromers in rock today.
That was why I was so disapointed with the performance. Many of the people who attended the show were forced to endure lengthy commutes and heavy traffic (including yours truly) to get there. We did not travel all that way to experience some kind of wierd pep rally. We came to hear one of the top bands in the world play music they have devoted their lives to creating!
I understand that after sixteen and a half years of being on the road, Green Day has more than paid their dues and deserve all the fame, money and awards they can get. As they sing in Boulevard of Broken Dreams 'I want it all, I want it all' and yes, I agree they deserve it all.
They have an absolute right to be 'a king for a day' but the folks who paid good money to be part of the largest audience ever to see Green Day deserve to be kings to, if only for a couple of hours. While I don’t expect anyone from Green Day to read this review, all I can say is while I am still a fan, next time guys don’t try so hard. Do what you do best. Just play!
Unfortunately the concert in my opinion was a disapointment. When the band played, there was nothing better. The problem was they did not play enough. While we did hear a good portion of the songs from American Idiot, as well as some real nifty encores, I calculated that of the two hour performance, the band played just over eighty minutes of music. The rest of the performance was composed of Billie Joe asking the crowd to do different rock chants and see which side of the sold out arena could be louder.
The cheerleading went on way to long and quite frankly was a real 'buzz kill'. These shenanigans continued when the band invited audience members to play instruments on stage. While I am all for audience participation – this was totally uneccesary, and a huge waste of time. I am a huge fan of mr. Armstrong and it is easy to understand why he is viewed as one of the most compelling perfromers in rock today.
That was why I was so disapointed with the performance. Many of the people who attended the show were forced to endure lengthy commutes and heavy traffic (including yours truly) to get there. We did not travel all that way to experience some kind of wierd pep rally. We came to hear one of the top bands in the world play music they have devoted their lives to creating!
I understand that after sixteen and a half years of being on the road, Green Day has more than paid their dues and deserve all the fame, money and awards they can get. As they sing in Boulevard of Broken Dreams 'I want it all, I want it all' and yes, I agree they deserve it all.
They have an absolute right to be 'a king for a day' but the folks who paid good money to be part of the largest audience ever to see Green Day deserve to be kings to, if only for a couple of hours. While I don’t expect anyone from Green Day to read this review, all I can say is while I am still a fan, next time guys don’t try so hard. Do what you do best. Just play!
