Green Day

The 99 Revolutions tour rolled into its final stop in Los Angeles on Thursday April 18, 2013. The show featured headliner Green Day and Best Coast (which we were unfortunately unable to catch) as support at the Los Angeles Sports Arena in downtown Los Angeles. The show featured over two and a half hours of Green Day’s biggest and greatest hits, and a ton more, including many crowd favorites that can currently be heard on alternative radio stations around the country. Green Day (11)

To quote Billy Joe Armstrong, Los Angeles does it a little bit better. This is not a statement, but a fact. An arena full of young and old die-hard Green Day fans sang 95% of every song, word for word. With over two hours of music ,either the band, or the crowd, should have been exhausted, but this is L.A., we go hard in the paint when it comes to rock shows. The energy that was fed off the roaring crowd gave Green Day a push to put on an intense, nonstop journey into the punk rock band’s historic discography. Who needs T-shirt cannons, water guns, toilet paper being shot out of a leaf blower, and a drunk pink rabbit when you have Green day putting on a show that is simply legendary!

Green Day first kicked off the night with the song 99 Revolutions, followed by Know Your Enemy. Towards the middle of the song, the band brought up a child from the audience to join them on stage and sing along, and in a awe-inspiring turn of events, he sang along with every word and had the sports arena cheer him on. Can you imagine, being 6-8 years old and being brought up on stage to sing a band’s song and you get cheered by several thousands of people!? That kid has lived a concert-goers dream at such a young age, and it’s all thanks to Green Day.Green Day (34)

Like we said earlier, the band played many fan favorite songs on this night, but there were a few that weren’t played. Wake Me Up When September Ends and Good Riddance are the bands biggest and probably most popular songs, but these songs were a no show here, and that’s actually not a bad thing. The momentum of this tour stop would have been brought to a halt if these songs were played- only because the entire night was hit after hit of adrenalin filled music. In place of the slower songs we got classics like Minority, Oh Love, Holiday, Welcome to Paradise, American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia, and so many, many more.

The highlight of the night goes to the madness (it can only be described as that) during the band’s performance of King for A Day, where the band came out dressed in silly outfits and hats to perform one of the most fun filled concert moments of the year. Sax solo’s, where’s Waldo, and a cross dressing drummer, Tré Cool, was just the tip of the iceberg that was witnessed! We even got to sing along to some California Dreaming and the “Na Na Na” part of Hey Jude, all while Billy Joe was laying in the stage of the arena. Now do you see what we mean by madness? Green Day (44)

The signs of this band slowing down are nowhere to be found. The band has stuck to their roots since day one and have continued up until Thursday night, and more probable, beyond. Seeing this band gives you a sense of nostalgia, whether  you grew up listening to these guys in high school, or this concert was your first Green Day experience, the music and band members will always leave you with a memory you will never forget.

Review by: Alex Lucero