46 -- Green Day – Mon, July 27, 2009 – Madison Square Garden -- NYC

I am pretty sure there were two distinct groups in attendance at Green Day’s Madison Square Garden concert: those who loved the band’s crowd-pleasing antics – and those who hated them. The latter group saw the gleaming lights, fire balls, and…t-shirt launches (!) as evidence that the band had become a corporate joke. According to them, Green Day was now as Punk as Rob Thomas was Rock.

Fortunately, I had not grown up with Kerplunk / Dookie, fell in the former group, and loved the show. I would admit they could be a bit hypocritical at times: railing against the “Mass Hysteria” of the “Static Age” when you appeared on the finale of American Idol? Really? Overall, though, they were exactly what I expected them to be: high-caliber Arena Punk. When they repeatedly prompted the crowd with “wayyyy-o,” they were not unconsciously crying “sellll out;” they were pumping everyone up!

And they certainly were able to rouse everyone: I don’t think the crowd remained seated for more than five minutes of the three hour show. Why would they, when there were so many opportunities for participation? Two songs in, they opened the gates and allowed everyone in the upper levels two minutes to sneak onto the floor level. Five songs in, they invited Drake, this hilariously cocky little kid, on stage to dance to “Long View.” The fact that they tore him a new one once he went off stage made it even more adorable.

Band-crowd connections continued throughout the night. Billie Joe told this amusingly profane story about taking down a cab driver who dared to insult Green Day. He also took fifteen-second song requests, incorporating Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man,” Led Zeppelin’s “Thank You,” Guns ‘n Roses “Sweet Child of Mine,” Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” and Lynrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” into an absurd, inspired, ten-minute jam.

Moreover, he invited all types of fans to play on stage. A thin, monotone, middle-aged man stumbled through “Basket Case” before diving effortlessly into the crowd. A heavy, vocally-gifted teen nailed all of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” before thudding on top of crowd. Unquestionably the most impressive fan of the night, though, was the girl who performed “Jesus of Suburbia.” She took lead vocal and lead guitar and hit everything!





In the end, that was what made the concert rock. It may not have had the in-your-face, underground charisma of Rise Against, but it was not an empty corporate show. Finding a girl who can mesmerize Madison Square Garden for nine minutes means you’re looking for soul. It means you still care.















Grade: A