So, I saw Green Day tonight. Was a little disappointed by their choice of openers (Sugarcult and fuckin’ New Found Glory?), but the headlining act was amazing. From the cover of “Shout” with full Billie Joe kneeling down with James Brown-esque cape thrown over him to the two suites (both got played, as did most of American Idiot), it was the best stadium show I’ve ever seen.

I’d heard the band was playing two sets recently, first the new album in full, and then a second set of favourites. That would have been awesome, but format here worked pretty well; most of the opening third of American Idiot, a bunch of classics (including their pre-Dookie cover of Operation Ivy’s “Knowledge”, wherein they get three people up on stage to play the instruments), and then most of the end of AI. They ended the regular show with “Homecoming”, which worked perfectly, and then came out for what seemed like a half-hour encore (emphatically not a complaint), ending with “Minority” (sounded silly a few years ago, getting in tonight and checking the preliminary results it sounded prophetic) and a solo electric version of “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” (ubiquity or no, I still love that song).

There were tons of highlights, but the crowd singalong to “Are We The Waiting” stands out, as does Billie Joe’s comment that if Bush won the band would no longer be from California, instead they’d be from Toronto. There was a pretty decent lights, fire and explosion show, a few props (a crown for the drag anthem “King For A Day”, supersoakers later on to cool down the crowd at the front; sadly, we could only get tickets for seats), all the stuff a good huge concert should have. I definitely prefer shows at smaller venues (partially since that’s what I’m used to), but the experience was good, even if the crowd made me feel old (”I’ve been listening to them since Dookie, dammit!”).

Oh, and I almost forgot: They do a pretty damn good cover of “We Are The Champions”. With glitter. Freddie would be proud.