Green Day
13th May 2017
Spark Arena, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Doug Peters.
Arriving to a packed out Spark Arena on Saturday night for some punk rock abandon, the vibes were strong and the feeling of unity and camaraderie rebounded off the walls and emanated from the assembled crowd; here to see Green Day return to our shores.
The evening’s events exploded with L.A. outfit The Interrupters taking the stage and injecting the crowd with high energy punk rock vibes laced with ska and street punk and with The Interrupters set on achieving their mission, “Green Day are up next and they are expecting you to sing, so we better get you warmed up!” cried Kevin Bivona, the lead guitarist as he rocked around stage with his two brothers, twins Justin on bass and Jesse on drums and with Aimee Interrupter taking the reins on a majority of the vocal duties. The excitement that this punk rock brigade were feeling was palpable as they shared with us that this is the biggest venue they’ve ever played as Kevin asked for the house lights to go up so he could see everyone and take in the magnitude of the crowd. Kevin and Co. lead us in a big ol’ love fest of a crowd participation too, speaking of unity and having the assembled call out “This is my family!” and threading us together in this collective experience, whipping us up into a pre-Green Day hype; before they deftly brought their performance to a finale, a classic high punk jump where all members came thudding down in unison as the lights cut off and plunged their tidy stage set-up into darkness and the crowd into a frenzy.
A very quick interlude followed which featured a dirty giant pink bunny wearing a Tre Cool shirt goofing for us on stage and setting us up for the classic ‘which side of the arena can yell louder than the other’ game in which everyone is really the winner.
Exploding on stage, Green Day is relentlessly upbeat and for a band that’s well storied as expressing their views on politics and the current state of affairs; Billie Joe was relatively gentle on these viewpoints leaning more towards inclusivity and a seeming genuine love for the people of New Zealand, thanking us on more than one occasion for supporting this trio of punks from Oakland for 30 years.
Crowd participation or inclusivity is really the name of the Green Day game these days with Billie Joe and co. so comfortable on-stage with their superstardom that it’s clear they’re aware that their appearance is so much more than just a Green Day show now; that it’s an expression of catharsis for all who’ve come out. Green Day share the stage with as many ‘regular people’ pulled from the crowd as they can: there was the little waif of a fan belting her lungs out on Know Your Enemy, before Billie Joe encouraged her to launch herself into a stage dive from the edge of the stage gangway that jutted out into the throng of bodies. On Longview, a young lad was hauled from the soup of faces to join Green Day on stage and lend his excited yelps to the lyrics as he hurtled around the stage taking in as much opportunity as possible to interact with his legends, scaling Tre Cool’s impossibly high drum riser or to dance around Mike Dirnt as he slapped that bass. When the newest temporary member of Green Day lost his words a little due to the sheer excitement of being up there, Billie Joe raced over and helped him through the lyrics, smiling a beatific smile and loving the exchange before our hometown lad, centre stage, leaned back and screamed “Auckland! Give it up for Green Day!” Cue Green Day’s faces to break into sweet grins as Billie Joe then encouraged this lad to also launch himself like a lemming back into the primordial ooze from whence he came.
There’s just no other expression for it, it was damn joyous and to be honest a struggle to adequately take notes on the night to present it to you in the cold light of day; as the feeling of unity; which Billie Joe constantly brought the evening’s mission back to, knitted us together and gave you no choice but to participate with Billy Joe urging fans to their feet to “Get off your asses and dance!” he screamed, as we obliged willingly, skanking under the huge pyro pops or spurts of fire, which scared the crap out of the kid next to me every single time…an added entertainment bonus to the evening as she’d clutch me and we’d laugh as the scent of sulphur moved through the air. At the merest gesture of his hand Billie Joe commanded us; be it a clap along, a “heeeey ooohhh” call and repeat – whatever, he only had to barely move and we were right on his suggestions eagerly performing for him as much as he was for us.
It was completely evident that the Green Day lads were loving every second of this night and swapping out the lyrics on Youngblood to instead be “Fuck you, I’m from Auckland” which we all loved…obviously! Their rendition of Holiday was massive as the whole arena was plunged into darkness as Billie took up his high powered torch beam to wash it around the stands and through the crowd, screaming his manifesto of “No Racism, No Sexism, No Homophobia and No Donald Trump” to which the crowd promptly lost their shit, which somehow increased in intensity as Billie Joe draped himself in a New Zealand flag and cawed “The representative for New Zealand now has the floor” as he waved it around in his audio revolution and threw it into the crowd. Prefacing Boulevard of Broken Dreams with an intro of this track “going out to all the weirdoes out there, and there’s a lot of us I’ll tell you!” the entire arena was pitch perfect in their heartfelt singing of their lyrics as the lights were dimmed and the cell phone torches were shone.
For the old fans, Billie Joe and his band of punky men gave us 2,000 Light Years Away which was jubilant and showcased an interlude where Billy Joe launched a t-shirt gun to all corners of the arena or armed himself with a high powered hose and dowsed the supplicant faces in the front row or as far as the first few rows of the stands. Green Day’s energy was enough to illicit the best from the crowd and increased our modest arena to feel like something the size of The O2 or Wembley. Adopting Auckland entirely Billie Joe often mused on the beauty of our country and our special vibe down here saying “I’m so glad not to see all the cell phones, I don’t wanna know about all the shit that’s happening in America, cause we’re Green Day from New Zealand now!” Treated to Basket Case, When I Come Around, Minority, Hitching a Ride and so many hits in a slab in with the new Revolution Radio cuts.
The clincher of the night could be the Operation Ivy cover that they launched at us in which Jesse from The Interrupters took over the drum duties so that Tre Cool could sneak up behind Billie Joe at centre stage and tap him on the shoulder to scare the shit out of him. This disturbed Billie Joe from his mission, which was to find a person in the crowd who could play three chords “I mean you really have to be able to do it.” Dragging up a young woman from the crowd he took her to the centre back of stage and quickly showed her what to play; then she rocked it the fuck out, perfect rock star stance on the gangway, Billie Joe crouched to hold the mic for her as she screamed out the lyrics too. As the finish of the song collapsed into admiration for all on stage, Billie Joe asked her name and then Sarah got the treat of a lifetime as the assembled of Spark Arena chanted “Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!” and if that wasn’t a life-making moment enough, Billy Joe casually says to Sarah, “You can have that Guitar” I’ve got to be honest, this old punk nearly shed a tear at that I did, as Sarah was escorted backstage with her new rig.
An interlude of jazzy fun saw funny props and costumes on stage as the Green Day crew took it down a couple of notches with a bit of a medley of classics for us to all freestyle around featuring the loose bones of Shout mixed in with Break on Through to the Other Side, Satisfaction, Hey Jude and a stonking bit of Careless Whisper by their sax man Jason; with Billie Joe cooing at us from underneath a Rainbow flag. After an absolutely blistering encore of American Idiot and Jesus of Suburbia; Billy Joe returned to stage for a mini acoustic set which had a beautiful, stripped right back version of Time of Your Life which honestly, felt as though it’s not just a fitting end to a killer gig, it’s the true feeling of a very humbled artist, ecstatic that he gets to do what he loves and thanking us for “supporting the Green Day story for 30 years”. I left Spark Arena like so many; with a ripped raw throat from singing my guts out, with hands that felt and looked like boxing gloves from clapping along so hard and with a real desire to try and figure out how I could get tickets for their second show in Auckland the following night so I could re-live it all over again. Magic.
The Interrupters
Green Day
Were you there at Spark Arena for this huge punk rock show? Or have you seen Green Day live somewhere else? Tell us about it in the comments below!
Setlist:
- Know Your Enemy
- Bang Bang
- Revolution Radio
- Holiday
- Letter Bomb
- Boulevard of Broken Dreams
- Longview
- Young Blood
- 2000 Light Years Away
- Hitchin’ A Ride
- When I Come Around
- Waiting
- Minority
- Are We The Waiting
- Saint Jimmy
- Knowledge
- Basketcase
- She
- King For A Day
- Still Breathing
- Forever Now
- American Idiot
- Jesus of Suburbia
- Ordinary World
- Time of Your Life
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by visiting our PressPatron page.