The band took the stage at Qudos Bank Arena Sydney on Thursday 11 May, with a following of thousands of cheers and fists in the air.

Grabbing his guitar, swinging it around his neck and rising on top of a downstage amp, front man Billie Joe Armstrong simply raises his arms and the crowd bursts into a screaming worship for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees and Grammy Award winners Green Day!

With the drums pounding and the crowd electric, the band launches straight into 2009 hit single Know Your Enemy. Just seconds in and Armstrong is already soliciting audience participation with a classic “hey, oh” call and response. Owning the stage he immersed himself into the sea of wild fans at every opportunity.

Armstrong thew a quick shout out to “Sydney Australia”.

“Everybody stand up! Get off your ass! Stand up, this is not a F- – king tea party, this is Rock N Roll!”

Energetic and loud – Armstrong’s ability to command a crowd was impressive to say the least, with the audience, even those in the nosebleed section, remaining on their feet for the whole duration of the almost two and a half hour show!

Half a song in and Armstrong is already bringing Audience members onto the state with lucky boy getting to live the dream and sing on stage with Green Day! Belting out a verse and surprising the crowd … this show was off to a good start.

With over 75 million album sold around the World, Green Day’s last visit Down Under was in 2014 for a series of festival dates. The Revolution Radio 2017 Tour saw the rock stars take on their first headline tour since the sold out 2009 21st Century Breakdown tour.

While the current Australian tour is in support of their twelfth studio album Revolution Radio released in October 2016, everybody knows that a Green Day show is very much a greatest hits experience.

Green Day dug deep into their back catalogue for this show. Dropping six songs from the Revolution Radio album into their set list, they added songs from Nimrod, Kerplunk, Dookie and even songs from Insomniac that hadn’t been played for over 20 years, with songs from American Idiot making up a majority of the set.

When the mandatory play of the title track Bang Bang was done and dusted, the pop-punk rock trio with the addition of multi-instrumentalists Jason Freese, Jeff Matika and guitarist Jason White, threw the crowd exactly what they wanted to hear. Mixing it up with new stuff and the classics, the album titled track Revolution Radio was followed by a real crowd pleaser Holiday. Armstrong screamed “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” to the famous baseline with a roaring reply from the mosh “Oi, Oi, Oi”. Continuing the momentum of their last albums politically-charged themes of activism Armstrong bellows “No Racism!… Repeat after me!” at the audience. “No Sexism!” “No Homophobia!” the audience echoing his chants, “And NO Donald Trump!!” with a raucous response of support from the crowd they continue the song and ride it home with a light show that should come with a health warning.

Rocking hit after hit; Too Dumb to Die, Letterbomb, and Welcome to Paradise, they slowed down the pace a touch for Boulevard of Broken Dreams, dedicating the song to “All my weirdos, my freaks and my strangers out there tonight!” the crowd basically sang the song for them with not a soul in the room still and at least mouthing the words in a sea of phones and lighters illuminating the crimson stage with just a single spotlight on Armstrong standing tall at the edge of the long runway, guitar strapped to his back and mic in hand.

Belting out Give me Novocaine, the intimacy raised the bar in build up for the next track that sent ‘old school’ Green Day fans into a conniption. Squirting the crowd with a hose and praising the “Bad ass bass player” Mike Dirnt for the song, Long View from the 1994 album Dookie rocked hard! Bringing back nostalgic feelings of my angsty teenage years, the track fulfilled my adoration for Green Day and reminded me of how prodigious the pop-punk rockers careers have been since their humble beginnings over 30 years ago.

The show was a testament to the singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong who is now 45, and the bassist Mike Dirnt, both proving they haven’t lost it. Their skill and agility still on point but there was an extra pizzazz of a more wise, more experienced musicianship that promotes these rockers to ‘Legend’ status. They’ve created a foundation of epoch proportions and it only takes one glance at the crowd to know that there is obviously something great about Green Day for the commitment and hard-core energy given from the fans was not what you would call, light!

The set continued with Young Bloods, followed by J.A.R (Jason Andrew Relva), Going to Pasalacqua, Hitchin’ a Ride and When I Come Around. The pageantry continued with Armstrong beckoning the audience with the old “hey, oh” on numerous occasions keeping the crowd involved and ready. Drummer Tre’ Cool beat the drums so hard sticks were constantly flying and being thrown through the air. There must have been at least 10 replacement pairs of drumsticks at the ready throughout the show!

After a few more favourites – Waiting, Minority, Are We the Waiting and St. Jimmy – they delved into their adored cover of Operation Ivy’s Knowledge. Half way through the track Armstrong asked for a volunteer “I need a guitarist…anyone, man, woman or child. Someone who can play guitar, just three chords!” A keen woman with no experience but an overt Green Day fan was chosen but after an unsuccessful turn at the three chords the fan retreated back to the mosh and a young teen was then pushed onto the stage as a replacement. The boy couldn’t have been older than 18, he had evident skills that even impressed the band on stage. Armstrong played the chords for the kid ONCE and he immediately picked them up. Shredding the guitar and taking to the stage like an experienced rock star, the young boy got more than his 15 seconds of fame! With an encouraging applause the kid, so grateful, stage dived into the rowdy mosh pit to end his monumental brush with rock stardom.

Without hesitation, the band delved into two more tracks Basket Case and She, before retreating side stage while just a saxophone solo stood in place and further accompanied the band (now in costume) through a rendition of King for a Day from the album Nimrod. Armstrong taking to the drums whilst the drummer Tre’ Cool belted out a few verses, the song morphed into what I would describe as one of the greatest, weirdest and most unexpected medleys I’ve ever witnessed. The saxophone led with the famous hook from George Michael’s Careless Whisper, with a shot of Shout, Break On Through (to the other side) and I Wanna be Sedated also featuring a hint of Always Look on the Bright Side of Life and then (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction leading the band to melt to the floor and continue playing their instruments while horizontal. Carolling Hey Jude whilst rolling around on the stage gave the band a small breather, before the song evolved back into Shout to rock the crowd to a standing ovation and concluding the mix with a wicked guitar and drum solo, and a seizure inducing light attack!

Flattening out with the tracks Still Breathing and Forever Now the band brought the show to a neat dissolve before bowing out and exiting the stage. With no energy lost, a swift return to the stage saw a blown out encore featuring American Idiot and Jesus of Suburbia. As if the band would leave without playing these songs.

Exiting the stage once again before yet another encore bringing Armstrong back with just his acoustic guitar in hand to chant Ordinary World and the song that has played out as a sound track for numerous graduations (including mine), Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)

Flames shooting out from raised platforms on and behind the stage, fireworks that are synced to the music and an outrageous bang ended the show in an adrenaline filled frenzy leaving everybody on a high!

What a show!

The atmosphere was like no other! Green Day produced the goods and showed that there is no slowing them down, with a polished youthful performance  that included some wild elements – pyrotechnics, massive back drop banners dropping away to reveal yet another enormous banner (banner after banner), a mind blowing light show, random costume changes and even a guest appearance from an audience member dressed at Spider-man gave this concert my tick of approval!

Armstrong made sure his audience knew that the band has a strong love and appreciation for Australia and their Australian Fans!

Well after that experience I can’t wait to see Green Day again and I am sure Australia will welcome them with open arms every time!

“We’ve got to rise to our better f- – king angels! And we have to look out for each other, and that is what I’ve learned from coming to Australia again and again and again and again!”

AMNPLIFY – DB