Billie Joe Armstrong (Green Day), at the Rockhal, June 12, 2017. (photos: Léa Fochesato)
After a new album that restored our hope, Green Day started their tour. They stopped in Luxembourg on Monday 12th June to unwind their show. Debrief of the evening.
My first concert of the Californian group was in 2010 at the Grand Stadium of the Parc des Princes, in Paris. Seven years later, the room is smaller but the show didn’t take a wrinkle. Well, maybe some, but nothing blatant enough to be emphasized. So we find Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool (as well as their long-time amigos) to be the same as before, we’re a little closer, and they’re still in shape. Maybe even more.
To start the evening, we dive into the street punk world, more violent than Green Day’s, with the legendary Rancid. Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen are real characters. We were, of course, anxious to see them go on stage. While Frederiksen looks like a Grandpa punk in his sleeveless sweater, Armstrong looks like an old sea-dog just back to the harbour for a few hours. The eye is vivid, the guitar powerful and you can not help but hop on Time Bomb and Ruby Soho, of course.
We get to the serious things from 8:30. The famous Pink Rabbit who has been accompanying the band for a while now climbs on stage to warm up the crowd on a well-known title of the Ramones just after a Bohemian Rapsody by the public already enthralled. We take off right away when the Californians get on stage. One thing is for sure, they know how to lead their show.
After a Know Your Enemy, admittedly simple but very effective live, they unfold the setlist by browsing between old titles, great novelties and essential hits. At the same time, they get crazy with strobes and small flamethrowers in the background. Everything is well calibrated and it is good. We, then, appreciate Basket Case and Holiday, Minority and King for a Day, the quick sax cover of Careless Whisper as well as the just as brief cover of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by the whole band.
Beyond that, we love the two hours twenty performance where the trio doesn’t stop between solos and demand for public participation. They get three people from the crowd on stage, throw a few t-shirts, a large number of drumsticks and picks and, our favourite part, water in our faces… A fresh welcomed moment, since we were relatively smoky.
Without saying it’s a revolution, they do send enough to develop a critical mind, requests, messages… Like during the American Idiot era. Even if the concert finishes quickly after a second (and short) encore, some thanks and a salute, we can say the Green Day guys love interacting with their audience. Not in the most surprising and original way (they repeat themselves a lot, it is true), but it is the intention that counts. And in the pit, we’re having a great time. To try again? Maybe in seven years.
More pictures here.