When the Bay Area-based punk-rock trio Green Day performs its first concert at Philadelphia’s Wachovia Spectrum on Tuesday, July 21, it will be the 930th different band to take the Spectrum stage in the venue’s 42-year history. It will also be the band’s final show at the Spectrum, as the building is scheduled to be razed later this year.Green Day’s Philadelphia show will be part of a tour in support of the forthcoming album 21st Century Breakdown, which will be released worldwide by Reprise Records on Friday, May 15.
Tickets for Green Day's July 21 Philadelphia show, priced at $25 and $49.50, go on sale this Friday, May 8 at 10:00 a.m. They will be available at ComcastTIX.com, LiveNation.com, the Wachovia Complex Box Office, by phone at 800-298-4200 and at select ACME locations.
Singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool have been writing, arranging, and recording 21st Century Breakdown since early 2006 with producer Butch Vig, known for his work with Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and his own band, Garbage. The first single from the album, “Know Your Enemy” is currently the No. 1 track at Alternative radio.
21st Century Breakdown is Green Day’s first studio album since 2004’s two-time Grammy Award-winning American Idiot, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard chart, spawned five hit singles, and went on to sell more than 12 million copies worldwide.
According to advance reports, 21st Century Breakdown is another full-fledged “punk-rock opera.” The musically and thematically ambitious 18-song set is divided into three acts, and tells the story of a young couple, Christian and Gloria, growing up in the early 21st century. It offers commentary on topics ranging from politics to religion, to war to love.
“The main message is trying to make sense out of desperate times and chaos,” Armstrong says in a Billboard Magazine interview.
To recreate the complex sound of 21st Century Breakdown and American Idiot in concert, the band is augmented on stage by guitarists Jason White and Jeff Matika, and keyboardist Jason Freese.
After the success of American Idiot, the notion of Green Day creating a three-part concept album doesn’t seem at all out-of-place. When I interviewed Mike Dirnt in 2003 in advance of Green Day’s first (and only) Delaware appearance, he hinted that the band’s next album (American Idiot) would be a “mini rock opera.” Given that most of the group’s material to that point consisted of three-chord punk rock anthems, I thought he was joking.
With the 1994 release of its major label debut CD, Dookie, Green Day became one of the first bands to successfully bring punk rock to the American mainstream. The songs “Longview” and “Basket Case” became MTV staples, “When I Come Around” hit the Top-40, and the album went on to sell over 12 million copies worldwide.
Some punk purists cried “sellout,” apparently preferring that the band continue to release albums on an obscure independent label. But Green Day paved the way for the commercial success of similar bands like Blink 182, Good Charlotte, and the Offspring. Ironically, Green Day’s biggest hit to date, “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life),” is an acoustic ballad complete with a string arrangement.
Some fans prefer the raw, early version of the band, while others like the more commercial sound. Dirnt (his stage name is the sound a bass makes) says that with so many albums to choose from, it’s natural that some fans identify with one version of the band over another.
“Every fan is especially attached to one record more than the other ones,” he said. “Whether they got into us on our first record, or because of “Time of Your Life,” they consider that their Green Day record. We like to pull songs from the entire catalog when putting the set list together.”
Here’s Green Day performing “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” live:
Dirnt (born Mike Pritchard) and Armstrong formed their first band, Sweet Children, in Rodeo, California when they were 14 years old. By 1989, the group had added drummer Al Sobrante (born John Kiffmeyer) and changed its name to Green Day.
Later that year, they independently released their first EP, 1,000 Hours. Its success led to a contract with Lookout! Records, a local independent label. The band’s first full-length album, 39/Smooth, was released later that year. Shortly thereafter, Sobrante quit the band and was replaced with Tre Cool (born Frank Edwin Wright, III).
Throughout the early 90's, Green Day continued to cultivate a strong cult following. The underground success of their second album, 1992's Kerplunk, led to the band signing with Reprise Records.
Dirnt says that while Green Day grew out of the San Francisco Bay area punk scene, they’re don’t hesitate to explore other styles of music.
“In a lot of ways, the word 'punk' carries a stigma to it,” he says. “The music comes first, it’s not like we’re stuck in any ditches. Everybody has lots of different influences. We grew up listening to all kinds of things. I was addicted to Top-40 radio when I was a kid. When I first started getting into rock ‘n’ roll, I remember the first things I really liked were AC/DC’s Back In Black album, and Billie Joel’s ‘It’s Still Rock ‘n’ Roll To Me.’”
Rather than alienate punk purists, Dirnt says that Green Day’s forays into more commercial material have simply allowed them to broaden their audience.
“The range of people at our shows is really insane,” he says. “Most of our fans tend to be guys between 14 and 30, but we have kids as young as 6 up to people in their 50’s, and even older. Girls, women, punks, and college kids… the mix is just incredible.”
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