Green Day, the punk rock trio, consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass guitar, vocals), and Tré Cool (drums, percussion), brought their latest dynamic, and literally explosive concert experience to US Airways Center on August 22.

Green Day performed at the US Airways Center on August 22. Photo Credit Stephanie Baldwin, View the Green Day Concert Gallery here

Twitter was flooded in to the early morning tweets from pumped concertgoers amazed by the epic performance delivered by Green Day. The concert was that good and well, that long. In fact, Green Day performed for nearly 2 hours and 45 minutes, with the concert concluding just before 11:45pm.

The superb set list provided a mix of songs from their latest release “21 century Breakdown”, their 2005 “American Idiot” as well as songs from their previous releases and a few covers that were masterfully arranged.

Impressive stage production combined: fire, fireworks, spectacular lighting, video backdrops and more. It was visually hypnotizing and while it could have been considered over the top or distracting for any other artist, Green Day was able to command the stage and remain the center of attention, with their powerful vocals, lyrics and musical expertise. Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool shined on stage and it was brilliant to see Billie Joe Armstrong play riffs with skill that would rival any other guitar great.

The trio was able to change the tempo of the performance without missing a beat. It didn’t matter if the band participated in various onstage shenanigans (which included water guns, toilet paper blowers, various costumes and a full mooning of the audience) or if there was a single spotlight on stage for an acoustic solo, the crowds’ energy was invested for the entire set.

Green Day delivers musically, instrumentally and provides an eye catching stage show, however this is not what makes their concert, quite possibly, the best touring today. The bands uncanny ability to get the audience deeply involved in their performance, is what sets them apart. Armstrong, not only yells, motivates and speaks to the crowd, he goes one step further and gains active participation. He is very aware of the crowd and seems to have a gift for plucking the most entertaining concertgoers out of the audience. At a Green Day concert the crowd is just another instrument that the band utilizes during their performance.

Often, these crowd interactions generate some of the most memorable moments of the show, as was the case at this evenings concert. Tonight, Armstrong selected a handful of crowd members to

Our own Amber Lamb shows Armstrong some love on stage at the August 22 Green Day Perfomance. Photo Credit Stephanie Baldwin

join him on stage at different points of the performance. Perhaps the most memorable, was a female concertgoer that laid a big fat kiss on Armstrong immediately after joining him on stage as he performed, “East Jesus Nowhere”. After recovering from the shock, he then proceeded to convince her to leap of the front of the stage to crowd surf among the other fans who were eager to participate.

Kissing wasn’t the only talent Phoenix fans had to offer. Two concertgoers made their vocal debuts singing “Longview”, the female chosen was obviously nervous but quickly navigated her way through the first few versus. It was then her male counterpart’s opportunity and he rocked the stage. I think everyone’s jaw dropped a bit, including Armstrong’s as this guy knew how to sing and had stage presence to boot. At the end of the song Armstrong announced that the two had been the best they’d seen on tour so far!

The final audience participant joined in on playing guitar for “Jesus of Suburbia” which was one of the four songs performed as an encore. Armstrong raised the bar and required it t0 be someone that actually knew how to play the song, and even challenged a few of those eager to participate to name the key it was in. The guy finally selected, proved his worth and performed as if he belonged with the band and did not miss a beat.

The concert ended appropriately with Armstrong singing “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”, which everyone in attendance could agree that they had. Overall the performance was epic and the best concert to come to the Valley this year and for that, Green Day deserves the highest honor of a 21 gun salute.

Green Day August 22 Set List:

“Know Your Enemy”
“East Jesus Nowhere”
“Holiday”
“The Static Age”
“Before the Lobotomy”
“Are We The Waiting”
“St. Jimmy”
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
“Hitchin a Ride” Foxboro Hot Tubs aka Green Day (check out the review on this side project)
“Brain Stew”
“Jaded”
“Longview”
“Basketcase”
“She”
“King for a Day” (which included excerpts covers of “Shout”, “Break on Through (to the Other Side)”, “Suspicious Minds” and “I’ll Be There.”)
“21 Guns”
“American Eulogy”
“21 Guns.”

Encore
“American Idiot”
“Jesus of Suburbia”
“Minority”
“Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)”

Special thanks to FromTheCrowd.com for providing this great article.

Let the countdown begin. Green Day is coming to rock Los Angeles and we have your opportunity to purchase presale tickets through the Idiot Club! Idiot Club members will have first access to presale tickets for the show at The Forum beginning Wednesday, June 3 starting at 12:00pm Local Venue Time via the fan club ticketing page.

Fan club members will be able to purchase up to 2 tickets per order. All tickets will be purchased as Will Call method of delivery. Tickets will NOT be mailed to you. Will Call tickets will only be able to be picked up by the person WHOSE NAME IS IN THE BILLING INFORMATION OF THE ORDER. Pick-up name changes will NOT be permitted. If you are purchasing tickets for someone other than yourself, during the checkout process, please do the following:
 
1. Make sure the name entered in the billing info is the person picking up the tickets.
2. Make sure the address entered matches the billing address for the credit card of the person paying for the tickets.

Tickets are very limited and will be available on a first come, first served basis. We worked very hard to make sure our fan club members will get great tickets to these shows. But there is no guarantee that every member will get a presale ticket. There will be additional presales for the Los Angeles show and will be announced shortly. Keep checking back here for more info. Please do not email or call about shows not listed below.

8/25/09 - Forum - Los Angeles, CA

The only way you will be able to access presale information for these shows starting Wed, June 3 at 12pm Local Venue Time is via a special link that will only work when accessed through the news page on www.idiotclub.com.

Order Your Tickets Below

North American Tour Dates
Date	City	On Sale
07/03 8:00 PM	Seattle, WA
07/10 8:00 PM	Fargo, ND
07/11 8:00 PM	Minneapolis, MN
07/13 8:00 PM	Chicago, IL
07/14 7:30 PM	Auburn Hills, MI
07/20 7:30 PM	Boston, MA
07/22 7:30 PM	Pittsburgh, PA
07/24 8:00 PM	Hartford, CT
07/27 8:00 PM	New York, NY
07/29 7:30 PM	Washington, DC
07/31 7:30 PM	Nashville, TN
08/01 7:30 PM	Atlanta, GA
08/03 8:00 PM	Tampa, FL
08/04 8:00 PM	Miami, FL
08/05 8:00 PM	Orlando, FL
08/07 8:00 PM	New Orleans, LA
08/09 8:00 PM	San Antonio, TX
08/11 8:00 PM	St Louis, MO
08/12 8:00 PM	Kansas City, MO
08/13 8:00 PM	Omaha, NE
08/15 7:00 PM	Denver, CO
08/16 7:00 PM	Salt Lake City, UT
08/18 7:30 PM	San Jose, CA
08/20 7:30 PM	San Diego, CA
08/21 8:00 PM	Las Vegas, NV
08/22 8:00 PM	Phoenix, AZ
08/24 7:30 PM	Sacramento, CA
European Tour Dates
Date	City	On Sale
07/04	Vancouver, BC
07/06	Edmonton, AB
07/07	Saskatoon, SK
07/09	Winnipeg, MB
07/16	Hamilton, ON

Green Day 2009 World Tour
21st Century Breakdown

North American Tour Dates
Date	City	On Sale
07/03 8:00 PM	Seattle, WA
07/10 8:00 PM	Fargo, ND
07/11 8:00 PM	Minneapolis, MN
07/13 8:00 PM	Chicago, IL
07/14 7:30 PM	Auburn Hills, MI
07/20 7:30 PM	Boston, MA
07/22 7:30 PM	Pittsburgh, PA
07/24 8:00 PM	Hartford, CT
07/27 8:00 PM	New York, NY
07/29 7:30 PM	Washington, DC
07/31 7:30 PM	Nashville, TN
08/01 7:30 PM	Atlanta, GA
08/03 8:00 PM	Tampa, FL
08/04 8:00 PM	Miami, FL
08/05 8:00 PM	Orlando, FL
08/07 8:00 PM	New Orleans, LA
08/09 8:00 PM	San Antonio, TX
08/11 8:00 PM	St Louis, MO
08/12 8:00 PM	Kansas City, MO
08/13 8:00 PM	Omaha, NE
08/15 7:00 PM	Denver, CO
08/16 7:00 PM	Salt Lake City, UT
08/18 7:30 PM	San Jose, CA
08/20 7:30 PM	San Diego, CA
08/21 8:00 PM	Las Vegas, NV
08/22 8:00 PM	Phoenix, AZ
08/24 7:30 PM	Sacramento, CA
European Tour Dates
Date	City	On Sale
07/04	Vancouver, BC
07/06	Edmonton, AB
07/07	Saskatoon, SK
07/09	Winnipeg, MB
07/16	Hamilton, ON

Drummer Nick Hodgson said: "They're very ordinary. We thought that Green Day would be real rock 'n' roll divas until we went on tour with them from Ireland to Scotland.

"The manager told us we had to get off the tour bus when we boarded the ferry and we said, 'I bet Green Day don't have to.'

"But when we got off the bus we saw that Green Day were the first off, sitting in a cafe at 6am."

But Hodgson admits he does use his rock star status to his advantage on occasion.

He added: "Sometimes you get last orders after last orders and that kind of thing. And I seem to spend a lot of time on the phone to (utility company) British Gas.

"As soon as they find out I'm a Kaiser Chief, they suddenly become much more helpful."

Green Day was interviewed last night by Stephen Colbert. They talked about their decision not to edit their CDs for Walmart, and they even covered part of a song that Stephen sang! In addition to that, they also played Know Your Enemy. You can catch the videos of the interview and performance here on Colbert's website.

Green Day performed today in Central Park, New York City in front of a massive crowd for Good Morning America. Here are some videos.

 Know Your Enemy (thanks Greenday_Aussie)
 21st Century Breakdown (thanks Terrbear)
 Longview (thanks Terrbear)

The band says the giant superstore chain refused to stock its latest CD, "21st Century Breakdown," because Wal-Mart wanted the album edited for language and content, and they refused.

"Wal-Mart's become the biggest retail outlet in the country, but they won't carry our record because they wanted us to censor it," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said in a recent interview.

While Wal-Mart sells CDs from acts known for raunchy content, including Eminem's latest, they offer customers the "clean" version of those CDs, which are edited for content that may be objectionable. But in Armstrong's view, "There's nothing dirty about our record."

"They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there," he said. "We just said no. We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something."

"21st Century Breakdown" contains curses and some references considered adult.

Wal-Mart said that it's the company's long-standing policy not to stock any CD with a parental advisory sticker.

"As with all music, it is up to the artist or label to decide if they want to market different variations of an album to sell, including a version that would remove a PA rating," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said. "The label and artist in this case have decided not to do so, so we unfortunately can not offer the CD."

But bassist Mike Dirnt said: "As the biggest record store in the America, they should probably have an obligation to sell people the correct art."

Not being sold at Wal-Mart didn't stop the band - which kicks off a U.S. tour summer tour in Seattle on July 3 - from landing at the top of the album charts this week. "21st Century Breakdown" sold about 215,000 copies since it's debut on Friday.

The album is the follow-up to their multiplatinum, Grammy-winning CD "American Idiot," and like that album, deals with weighty topics. While "American Idiot" spoke to the frustration over the presidency of George W. Bush and the Iraq War, this CD speaks to the loss of innocence and confusion in today's society.

While Armstrong, Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool are still top-sellers without Wal-Mart, Armstrong said the store's policy is disappointing, considering it has become the dominant seller of CDs with the decline of traditional music stores.

"If you think about bands that are struggling or smaller than Green Day ... to think that to get your record out in places like that, but they won't carry it because of the content and you have to censor yourself," he said. "I mean, what does that say to a young kid who's trying to speak his mind making a record for the first time? It's like a game that you have to play. You have to refuse to play it."