Green Day - 7-10-09

Green Day played the Fargodome this past Friday and they did not disappoint. Playing for well over 2 hours and a fairly affordable ticket it was surprising to me to see that the crowd was far less than capacity like other stops on the Green Day tour which are all sold out.

But the band came out and rocked the place...playing all their hits from the past 15 years...they had a ton of pyro, lights, video and more that all added to the show and overall was a really good time.

If I was going to complain about anything, it is the same complaint I have for many of the shows I go too... I go to the show to see the band perform and sing their songs... I do not enjoy it when the band insists the crowd sings the song or, in the case of Green Day for their song Longview (one of my favs), if they grab people from the crowd to sing with the band... so instead of hearing a version of the song I want to hear perform by the band I get to hear a bunch of off-key, 1/2 drunk fans go up and hack their way through the song...not really what I want to see...but it was only one song in this instance, unfortunately one of my favorite songs.

A couple of final thoughts about this show... I thought it was kind of funny that Billy Joe, at one point, commented on how he was sick and tired of cell phones, cameras and technology...that this is our show, our memory and to put that shit away... by the way, Green Day's tour is sponsored by Verizon and person could barely walk 10 feet without seeing that was so...so kind of a mixed message from Green Day...

I am/was a Green Day fan from the album Dookie and do enjoy some of their newer music ... but I have never liked their 'ballads', which Green Day has plenty of and they are all huge. Again, Billy Joe at the beginning of the show demanded everyone get off their asses and get up because "This is a punk rock show" ... oh really? Then why is Good Riddance, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Time of My Life being played? They certainly aren't punk rock songs by any means...

Regradless, Green Day was a good show. I was also surprised to read the Forum newspaper the day after, their critics routinely rip any and all concerts that come to Fargo...and oftentimes after reading their review, I question as to whether or not they even attended the show they are reviewing, but for Green Day, got an overall positive review... so it must have been a good show! Here's some pics I took...enjoy..