Gig review/ Green Day

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR

Green Day/ Live At Lollapalooza India 2025

Genre: Rock

Details: Mahalaxmi Race Course grounds, March 9

Rating: ****

Wearing a Green Day tee was a trendy thing to do on Sunday, March 9. Even more fashionable was to wear a black formal shirt with a loose red or white necktie. The hardcore fans did exactly the latter, in keeping with the style created by Billie Joe Armstrong, the band's frontman.

A massive crowd gathered in front of the Corona Sunsets stage at the Mahalaxmi Race Course grounds for the finale of Lollapalooza 2025, presented and promoted by BookMyShow Live. It didn't matter whether they followed the fashion diktat or not. It didn't matter if they were born years after Green Day released its debut album in 1990. The truth was that many of them knew the lyrics of most songs. They sang along, jumped along and chanted 'Aye Oh' whenever Armstrong asked them to, looking at close-ups of his dreamy, chameleon-like eyes on the giant screen.

The punk-rock heroes played for an hour and 45 minutes, interestingly preceding their appearance with a recording of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. The primary line-up of Armstrong, bassist Mike Drint and drummer Tre Cool were greeted with wild applause, and the accompanying musicians (guitarist Jason White and keyboardist Jason Freese) were cheered at when introduced.

The set was basically culled from three albums - Dookie (1994), American Idiot (2004) and Saviors (2024) - with a few popular hits added from other records like Insomniac, Nimrod, Warning and 21st Century Breakdown. As such, they represented a wide span of the band's discography.

Starting at 8..15 p.m. with 'The American Dream Is Killing Me' from the latest album, Green Day quickly moved on to Dookie with 'Welcome To Paradise', 'Longview', 'Basket Case' and 'When I Come Around'. For the relatively older folks, this was sheer nostalgia. The switch was quickly made by 'Know Your Enemy', from the 2009 album 21st Century Breakdown. Here. Armstrong called a starry-eyed girl from the crowd up on stage, asking her to sing along. It's an old trick played by everyone from Michael Jackson to Bryan Adams, but it worked yet again. The girl was so excited she clung on to her hero like iron to a magnet.

Two numbers later, on 'Dilemma', the singer called a fan to play the guitar. After the performance, he even gifted the instrument. Was that for real?? The song is from the last album, and it was a pleasant surprise to see a few girls sing the lines, "Welcome to my problem, it's not an invitation, this is my dilemma, and it's my obsession: I was sober, now I'm drunk again, I'm in trouble and in love again, I don't want to be a dead man walking, I don't want to be a dead man walking".

Though most Green Day songs deal with American situations and sentiments, they have had an impact on many Indian fans, as was evident here. Maybe it's got to do with the angst of a generation. The group's most successful album American Idiot, which talked of the disillusionment of Americans in the aftermath of 9/11 and the Iraq War, was represented in good number. From the title track and 'Holiday' to classics like 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' and 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams', the fans knew the words. The singalong with 'Boulevard Of Broken Dreams' would probably have been heard at Mahalaxmi railway station or Haji Ali traffic junction or even in the well-lit highrises beyond. "Aha aha aha, I walk alone, I walk alone".

Strangely, the group chose 'Bobby Sox' from Saviors as its penultimate number. After all the socio-political outburst that peppered the earlier songs, it was a weird choice, with its "Do you wanna be my girlfriend?" and "Do you wanna be my boyfriend?" lyrics. Thankfully, Armstrong made up with a solo acoustic version of 'Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)' from the 1997 album Nimrod. However, his joke about getting a special guest for this song fell flat, though it was our good luck he didn't get Badshah on stage. Even better, he didn't take a cue from Chris Martin's book by apologising for the actions of various American presidents.

While Armstrong was high on showmanship, Drint and Tre Cool came up with amazing spells, aided by good sound and loads of adrenaline. Overall, the crowd was younger than the one which came for Sting last year. And even if they didn't wear the tee or tie, they went back with a dream come true. But in the end it's right, we hope they had the time of their life.




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