Green Day treated Maine to one of its best concerts in years last Thursday at the Cumberland Civic Center in Portland. Riding the success of their hit comeback album American Idiot, their best work in a decade, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tre Cool came to please the sell-out crowd.
Green Day revamped the formula for punk success with its unstoppable three-chord wonder hits in 1994, and bands from Blink-182 to New Found Glory to a bunch of punk-poppers that I'm too old to know have followed in their wake. On American Idiot, they stopped their long trend of progressively less relevant and less punk-sounding work by thinking big?rock opera big. And it kicked ass.
The band came to Portland ready to perform the most theatrical work of its career. Huge magnesium flame jets were shot up from the stage at least five times over the course of the night; songs were often ended by gunshots; lights were impressive, including a giant disco ball hovering over "Are We the Waiting." But most impressive was singer Armstrong's skills at playing to the crowds. So much of the time was spent in call and response and audience participation that you get the feeling Armstrong is hopelessly addicted to the stuff.
After an initial rollercoaster of the first half of American Idiot to start the concert, the band slowed to the pace of about five songs (songs normally three minutes long) over the course of an hour. This made me wary at first?while the band could probably use the rest, it wasn't particularly inspiring, musically. But Armstrong is a fantastic entertainer. And the band did start playing songs more frequently. By the end of the concert, I had decided it was the best I'd seen in four years in New England.
In one highlight, Green Day assembled another band on stage, out of members of the audience. When I saw Green Day seven years ago at a festival, the band invited up a guest guitarist (I think the average fan at this show was about seven years old at the time). Here, it was drummer, bassist, and guitarist. Armstrong checked to make sure aspiring musicians knew something of their craft?laughing at a novice drummer's feeble motions?but soon had a band. His interactions with the guitarist were hilarious. "Can you play guitar?" "Yes." "How old are you?" "17." "Have you ever had sex?" "No." "You will tonight." Pulled on stage, the enraptured teen hugged his idle. Armstrong responded with a kiss. Then the three volunteers took over the cover of Operation Ivy's "Knowledge." The kid guitarist even got to keep the guitar.
If anyone has not heard the religious experience that is the nine-minute epic "Jesus of Suburbia," they are advised to pick up American Idiot, but unfortunately they also missed a fantastic live version. Hits from Dookie and Nimrod were played generously, as were some interesting covers, including "Shout!" (the one from Animal House, not Tears for Fears) and Queen's "We Will Rock You."
Opener My Chemical Romance was enthusiastic, if bad, but generally well-received. They did draw respect and laughs for recommending that ladies spit in the faces of bands who only trade backstage passes for flashed boobs. Unfortunately, the band's lyrics were completely unintelligible, as was most of its music.
But Green Day raised the roof with rock and theatrical entertainment. I felt jealous for the thousands of 13-year-olds for whom their first concert was this great.