I GREEN DAY DOPO I CLASH TRIBUTO ANCHE AGLI WHO

Green Day played the second of their two Reading and Leeds festival headline slots tonight (August 24), topping the bill on the main stage at Leeds’ Bramham Park site.

Drawing an initially smaller crowd than expected following a constant deluge of rain that left the site flowing with mud, the band were preceded by a giant pink rabbit bearing the words ‘Tre Cool’ on its back. The rabbit revved the crowd up to the sound of The Clash’s ‘Hey Ho Lets Go’. Green Day then emerged with ’99 Revolutions’, with singer Billy Joe Armstrong egging the crowd on from the start. “This is a festival!” he screamed, before telling people to put their hands in the air for the climax of the song.

Armstrong then introduced ‘Know Your Enemy’ by yelling out the song title before pulling up a member of the audience to sing part of the song and then instructing the volunteer to stage dive back into the crowd. As the band kicked into ‘Stay the Night’, the singer then told the crowd they were “way louder than Reading” to huge cheers. At this point, the enthusiastic crowd had swelled despite the rain starting to come down again. The band then revealed that tonight would be their last show “for a long time”. “We’re so fucking glad to be doing it here!” Armstrong added.

Green Day then continued with ‘Letterbomb’, with the frontman delivering a diatribe about technology and corporations. ‘Holiday’ and ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, during which Armstrong declared “If I died tomorrow this would be a great way to go out.”

They then continued with ‘Let yourself Go’ and a brief cover of The Who’s classic ‘My Generation’, with Billy Joe stating that the band were one of his favourites in the world. Green Day then did a full cover of epic, multi-part Who song ‘A Quick One While He’s Away’ in tribute to the bands ‘Live at Leeds’ album before continuing into the ‘Dookie’ portion of the set. With the album artwork rising behind them, the band re-emerged to play the album in full – marking the twentieth anniversary of the records release next year.

Playing the likes of ‘Chump’ and a singalong ‘Welcome to Paradise’, they welcomed another surprisingly in-tune crowd member onstage to sing the rest of the song. The group then continued with a rendition of ‘Basketcase, before finishing ‘Dookie’ with tracks including ‘Sassafras Roots’, ‘When I Come Around’ an ‘F.O.D’.

Afterwards, Armstrong emerged with a toilet paper cannon and t shirt canon to throw out to the crowd before breaking into ‘St Jimmy’ and finishing with ‘Minority’.

The band then swiftly reappeared on stage, kicking into an elongated ‘American Idiot’, during which Armstrong screamed, “I’m losing my mind.” They followed with ‘Jesus of Suburbia’ and ‘Brutal Love’.

Armstrong then came back on for a solo acoustic rendition of ‘Walk Away’ before continuing with a rousing finale of ‘Good Riddance (Time of my Life).

Green Day played:

’99 Revolutions’
‘Know Your Enemy’
‘Stay The Night’
‘Stop When The Red Lights Flash’
‘Letterbomb’
‘Holiday’
‘Boulevard Of Broken Dreams’
‘Let Yourself Go’
‘My Generation’ / ‘A Quick One While She’s Away’
‘Burnout’
‘Having a Blast’
‘Chump’
‘Longview’
‘Welcome To Paradise’
‘Pulling Teeth’
‘Basket Case’
‘She’
‘Sassafras Roots’
‘When I Come Around’
‘Coming Clean’
‘Emenius Sleepus’
‘In the End’
‘F.O.D.’
‘St Jimmy’
‘Minority’
‘American Idiot’
‘Jesus Of Suburbia’
‘Brutal Love’
‘Walk Away’
‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’