Author: Rok Klemše
Photos: Nina Grad
Location: Arena Stožice / Ljubljana
Concert date: 06.06.2017
Attendance: 13,000
American giants Green Day last set foot on Slovenian soil way back in February 1998, and first two years earlier, when the mega-successful Dookie (up to that point) had them at the peak of their fame. Later albums never matched the success they’d set with Dookie, but they stayed relevant among their fans anyway, right up until American Idiot, released in 2004, shot them into the stratosphere as a global phenomenon. With that socially critical record, an allegory of Bush’s America, they smashed one record after another, took the top spot on the Billboard chart, won a Grammy for Best Rock Album and played their longest tour to date. American Idiot soon came to life as a Broadway musical too, and last year Green Day put out their current studio album Revolution Radio, which they’re promoting on this tour. The true spirit of punk (let’s save the debate about whether Green Day ever really had it for another time) pretty much fades away next to all that success, but it’s still clear that in the age of Donald Trump’s USA, Green Day are once again topical and relevant, at least as much as they were in the American Idiot days.
Die-hard punks, with far less commercial gloss to worry about, were therefore a lot more into California’s Rancid than into Green Day, and Rancid ran out on stage right on the announced time. The cult band that reminded the mainstream in the early nineties that there’s still something called punk played Slovenia for the very first time in their quarter-century career, and won everyone over with their pretty raw-sounding punk. Rancid tugged at the nostalgic heartstrings above all with a setlist made up mostly of tracks from the legendary … And Out Come the Wolves, with a loud, hard-hitting sound and just the right amount of dirt, which was pure manna for the ears after the polish of present-day Green Day. Under the leadership of the energetic Tim Armstrong, Rancid colored the first half of their set with straight-up punk tunes, broken up by the new Ghost of Chance (from the new album Trouble Maker, out tomorrow on Epitaph), while the second half, once a keyboardist joined the guys on stage, came out much more ska-flavored. After a good forty minutes Rancid said goodbye with their biggest hit, Ruby Soho, and warmed up the Ljubljana crowd just enough for the stars of the night.
While waiting for the two bands, it was nice to hear genre-appropriate warm-up music (Bad Religion, NOFX), and the nicely packed arena exploded with excitement when the eternal Bohemian Rhapsody boomed out of the speakers, announcing the start of Green Day’s set. But before Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool climbed on stage, a dancing pink bunny entertained and hyped up the crowd during the Ramones anthem Blitzkrieg Bop, and the long-awaited trio ran out on stage to the sounds of Morricone’s Ecstasy of Gold. The crowd’s huge excitement nearly blew the roof off the place, and Green Day greeted Ljubljana with the anthemic Know Your Enemy from the current album. Billie Joe won the arena over in the first seconds of the show and didn’t loosen his grip until the very end, including with calls against homophobia, racism and, of course, The Donald. The charismatic, in-great-spirits frontman pulled a fan up on stage in the first few minutes, sang a few verses with them, and the fan then stage dived off the stage. The energy in the arena stayed high the whole time, and the heat was cranked up even more by pyro and fire effects, which only added to the show and the explosiveness of everything happening on stage (and below it). The view of that great atmosphere from the red stand was genuinely goosebump-inducing at times! The youthful, upbeat forty-somethings, thanks mostly to the wild Armstrong, won over even those of us who came to the show purely out of nostalgia. The ringleader of the stage action won Stožice over with plenty of thank-yous in Slovenian, by draping himself in the Slovenian flag, by shooting free t-shirts from a »t-shirt gun«, and most of all with a sweet moment when he invited a girl from the crowd on stage and slung a guitar around her neck for a few chords. Which she then got to take home. Green Day interrupted the opening run of newer songs with the ancient 2000 Light Years Away from the album Kerplunk, then raised the temperature with no trouble at all through hits like When I Come Around, Minority, Basket Case, She and King For a Day, plus a medley of classics, Shout/Satisfaction/Always Look on the Bright Side of Life/Hey Jude, during which half the band was rolling around on the stage. Green Day closed the first part of the show with Forever Now, and in the encore they almost literally exploded with American Idiot, which the crowd helped Armstrong sing with special gusto. They surprised everyone with the ballad Jesus of Suburbia, and in the last encore only Armstrong said goodbye to the crowd, alone with an acoustic guitar. First he served up Ordinary World from the current album, and to close it out, the expected but beautiful rendition of the evergreen classic from Nimrod, Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). The vast majority in the arena truly had »time of their lives« over those two hours, and with what they showed, Green Day probably convinced the skeptics too. Punk, not punk, who cares, Green Day proved with their energy and positivity that they’re one of the best live bands around right now.
Setlist
RANCID:
1. Radio
2. Roots Radical
3. Maxwell Murder
4. Ghost of a Chance
5. Telegraph Avenue
6. East Bay Night
7. Olympia WA.
8. Nihilism
9. Time Bomb
10. Ruby Soho
GREEN DAY:
1. Know Your Enemy
2. Bang Bang
3. Revolution Radio
4. Holiday
5. Letterbomb
6. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
7. Longview
8. Youngblood
9. 2000 Light Years Away
10. Hitchin’ a Ride
11. When I Come Around
12. Minority
13. Are We the Waiting
14. St. Jimmy
15. Knowledge
16. Basket Case
17. She
18. King For a Day
19. Shout Medley
20. Still Breathing
21. Forever Now
— encore 1 —
22. American Idiot
23. Jesus of Suburbia
— encore 2 —
24. Ordinary World
25. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)
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