Dookie

Today my dear friends Linsey and Dara and I made the trek all the way up to Dayton's Nutter Center to take in the last show in Green Day's American Idiot tour. It was definitely the best punk rawk show I've been to in a long time, possibly ever. And it solidified my suspicion that Billie Joe Armstrong is, indeed, a rock god.

Ever since teenage America stood up and took note of the genius that is Dooke back in 1993, Green Day has taken a lot of flack for "selling out" - that is, going from an independent band playing shows in basements and other small venues to playing nearly sold-out venues such as the Nutter Center. I can understand why their original fans were pissed - Billie Joe and company basically signed a contract, changed their sound, to a certain extent, so that wider audiences would appreciate it, and left them behind. I saw a similar thing happen with a little band called Relient K (which, by the way, used to be a lot less evangelistic and a lot more punk - not musical genius by any means, but they were a band that the Canton, Ohio area could call its own, and I faithfully went to every show I caught wind of). But I actually think the band has returned to its original "fuck you" attitude with American Idiot. Instead of churning out more of the familiar pothead slacker counterculture anthems, the boys take a political stance with this album. It's a 21-track flip of the birdie to George W. Bush and all his supporters. And while I still can't comprehend the concept of a politically conservative punk, I do know they exist (I even taught a few in College English last year) and that making such a bold statement against GWB (and timing it around election time last fall) cost them some fans.

But anyway, back to the show itself: it kicked ass. The boys played American Idiot from top to bottom. And it was beautiful. Their encore (at least half the show in length) was at least as good; they covered all the hits off of Dookie and then some, and they even played completely random stuff like "Gay for a Day" (complete with some very nice hats). And oh, how Billie Joe can turn a girl on when he's just a speck on the stage fifty rows down. Sigh.