He’s all sorted out now, the band are back and they’ll be making sure that the Emirates crowd go 10 shades of basket case mental this weekend.
After Dookie became the biggest-selling album in the galaxy in 1994 (it outsold Nevermind in the Nineties), Green Day went from being scruffy San Fran punks to global superstars – then they stalled. Three follow-ups failed to match this lofty expectation, until American Idiot hit in 2001 and took the band to a new level, its concept album conceit winning them new fans outside the punk-rock mainstream, and then Broadway plaudits, too, after Armstrong took the album to the stage.
Follow-up 21st Century Breakdown marked yet another fallow period – had they gone too far from their roots? Was the band destined for any sort of future? Had they got too old to still be dyeing their hair and prancing around on stage in the emo-kids’ garb? Last year’s ¡Uno!, ¡Dos! and ¡Tre! delivered the answers.
Stuffed to the rafters with loud, brash, three-minute punk-ified bruisers, it showed there was still life in the band yet, and firmly restablished Green Day with their Bay Area heritage. Then Armstrong had a mid-show meltdown in Vegas and jeopardised it all. Fear not – they are back now, and they mean business! And they’ll probably play When I Come Around, too.
Emirates Stadium, N5 1BU
Sat, Jun 1 | Doors at 7pm | £45+
Tube | Arsenal
events.arsenal.com
Photo: Getty
