Green Day is back on top in Berkeley
Armstrong in fine form as he leads his mighty East Bay band
Billie Joe Armstrong wanted the fans to know exactly what they could expect from famed East Bay outfit Green Day on Thursday night.
“I promise you one thing: We are going to give it everything we (expletive) can tonight,” the 44-year-old Rodeo product told the capacity crowd at the UC Theatre in Berkeley. “Because we always save our (expletive) best for our hometown.”
The next two hours and change would prove beyond that a reasonable doubt that Armstrong meant what he said. The vocalist-guitarist and his two longtime partners – bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool – definitely left everything on the stage, as they rocked, joked and sweated through some 30 numbers from their mighty songbook.
It was a convincing return-to-form for the band, which went through the most trying time of its career a few years back — with Armstrong’s very public meltdown and substance abuse problems — and has lived to tell of it. The trio, which, at times, utilized a few side musicians to help craft the soundscape, moved like a juggernaut through both the older pop-punk offerings and the more recent straightforward-rock material.
“Can you feel me, East Bay?” Armstrong asked. “I want to know if you are (expletive) alive?”
Fans seemed totally thrilled to be in attendance. And why wouldn’t they be? After all, this gig — featuring the stadium-sized band performing in a relatively intimate 1,460-capacity venue – was the toughest ticket in town.
And Armstrong, an accomplished singer-songwriter and one of the more underappreciated guitarists in rock, certainly seemed thrilled to be back home.
“I think all these songs are going to start turning into songs about the Bay Area,” said Armstrong, quickly offering up “Welcome to Paradise” as the first example.
The band’s deep East Bay roots were on full display during the between-songs banter, as Armstrong gave a shout-out to the Oakland Athletics and showed concern about the “Las Vegas Raiders.”
The singer also, per usual, spent a fair amount of time goofing around — at one point, laying on his stomach on the stage floor and belting out covers of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and other artists. Some of his antics can seem a little sophomoric and immature, but when Armstrong is having fun — we’re all having fun.
The best songs of the night were the usual suspects, most notably the offerings from the 1994 major-label debut “Dookie,” such as “Basket Case” and “Longview,” and from the brilliant 2004 rock opera “American Idiot.” Even the new material, from the band’s 12th studio album, “Revolution Radio,” sounded fairly strong (if not all that memorable).
The encore was downright triumphant — a victory lap through fantastic versions of “American Idiot,” “Jesus of Suburbia,” “Ordinary World” and “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
The 1,400 fans at the U.C. certainly got a great show. But what about the many other Green Day fans who got shut out of seeing this intimate show?
Never fear. The group should definitely be back in 2017. There’s no local date on the band’s announced tour yet, but I suspect that’s because the group will headline at either BottleRock Napa Valley or San Francisco’s Outside Lands (and those lineups aren’t shared until later).
Due to various factors, such as the timing of the tour, my strong hunch (and nothing more than a hunch) is that Green Day will play BottleRock in May.