Big time rock stars Green Day, whose new album Revolution Radio is their best since American Idiot, celebrated the release of the album with an insanely intimate performance at Rough Trade NYC on the albums release date of October 7. The first 300 or so fans who showed up to Rough Trade the day of the release/show were granted a wristband gaining them admission to this show, so as you can imagine, fans lined up at the wee hours of the night in order to secure a spot. This guy included.
As a teenager Green Day were my first musical heroes, as a middle school kid, I still remember discovering Dookie and American Idiot and becoming obsessed. They were also my first real concert (at MetLife Stadium), so it’s safe to say there will also be a special bond between me and the band. While I have admittedly lost that bond since then, there was no way I could miss the chance to see them play at Rough Trade. I got there around 4 a.m. and quickly bonded with some friends that also were waiting on line, and made great conversation with other fans willing to sacrifice sleep for a chance to see Green Day at a tiny venue.
Showtime hit, and the experience still seems as surreal as it was being there. They started off with the first three songs off the new album (“Somewhere Now,” “Bang Bang,” and “Revolution Radio”) before shifting gears into a timely and defiant performance of “Holiday” and then the show took an interesting turn. Green Day rewarded fans by diving deep into their early days, playing stuff from their first records, such as “409 in Your Coffeemaker,” and “J.A.R.” Not only that, but they took us really back with performances of “Armatage Shanks” for the first time since 2010, and even crazier, a performance of “Why Do You Want Him?” for the first time since 2001.
The set also featured some more modern cuts like “She” and “St. Jimmy” but it was definitely a surprise how unique and rare of a set that we got from the band. There were rumors of the band playing for nearly three hours, so some fans were disappointed that they ended after 22-songs, but considering we got to see them play at the a tiny spot for the price of a vinyl record, there wasn’t much to really complain about. This show was as cool as it gets.
Find the setlist posted below along with some shots I took on my iPhone.
Green Day Setlist:
1. Somewhere Now
2. Bang Bang
3. Revolution Radio
4. Holiday
5. Private Ale
6. Armatage Shanks
7. Stuart and the Ave.
8. 409 in Your Coffeemaker
9. One for the Razorbacks
10. I Was There
11. Why Do You Want Him?
12. Brat
13. J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)
14. One of My Lies
15. Only of You
16. Disappearing Boy
17. She
18. Christie Road
19. Burnout
20. Scattered
21. Waiting
22. St. Jimmy
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