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Submitted by Nick the Bookman:
Green Day in Hong Kong: 16-01-2010.
Welcome to the End of Time - minus two years and counting. That's if you're a Mayan. Or welcome to the Year of the Rockosaurus. That's if reports on the forthcoming concerts by Jeff Beck, Bob Dylan and Deep Purple are confirmed. Or welcome to Green Day's HK debut at Asia Arena, 16-01-2010. They're promoting their new release "21st Century Breakdown" - most of which I haven't heard. I'm going to the show mainly to hear their rocktastic rendition of "American Idiot". Other Greatest Hits are a plus. I bought my ticket about a month ago. Just in time as well. So, there's going to be a humongous, hardcore audience in attendance. So, hey, ho! Let's go. 1-2-3-4. On with the show!
It's the usual procedure. Ferry to Central. Airport MTR. Enter Hall 10. There's a slightly banked oval of seats around a large floor space. Stager to my left. Mixing desk about 30 yards closer to my seat. Mosh pit in front of the stage and plenty of room for other standing punters. There's probably over 5,000 people in here. Including a large Lamma contingent. So hi to Roz and Robin, Megan and Dawn, Louise and her brood, Mel and Dhani. The Reverend Hank and Charlie. All apparently saving money on the babysitter tonight. Apologies to those I missed out. Feel free to pester Lamma-Gung and join this review. It's a tribute to Green Day that they've transcended their hard punk, pro-dope smoking roots to turn tonight into a massive family affair. Anyway, enough of that. Action is occurring in the moshpit and on the stage
The opening act is Prima Donna from California, who strut on stage to a symphonic intro that might be Carmina Burana(?) They play a punchy mix of drums, bass, guitars, keyboards, occasional sax and seem thrilled to the point of near spontaneous orgasm to be in HK and on the Green Day tour. The songs are a fine blend of punk rock with a nifty nod-cum-remix of old 70's bands. A hint of "Sweet Jane" here. A pinch of The Ruts there. A tangled squeal of surf guitar mixed with the melody line of "I Wanna Be Your Dog". A fine blend of retro-modern. Song titles include "Soultripper", "Millionaire" and "The Body". All of which I'm sure are available on their CD which is for sale outside the hall. They would have made a fine counterpoint to the Black Mariah's at Dickstock and manage to get the energy levels pumped up. And they're diplomatic. They''re happy to be in HK, namecheck and thank Green Day and don't overstay their welcome. Their brief set is over by about 2040. So, there's a good chance of getting home tonight. Unlike Underworld.
A varied selection of tunes comes from the mixing desk as the roadies do their patented roadie thing and get the stage ready. The tunes, which are quieter than the live music, range from glam hair bands like Poison to Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself".. There's "I Fought the Law" by the Bobby Fuller Four (the original version that inspired The Clash.) The Beatles chime in with "Revolution". Cheap Trick refuse to "Surrender". The Village People invite us to the "YMCA" and even the late Wacko Jacko doesn't stop til he gets enough . A fine harbinger of treats to come.
It's about 2100 and The Ramone's "Rock and Roll Radio" is fading out in a burst of static. Very similar to how Roger Waters opened his "Dark Side of the Moon" concert a couple of years ago. I'm thinking this is the perfect number to fade into "21st Century Breakdown" and the thought becomes the deed as I write it down. Green Day are on stage. All six of them! What? Blink! Shake! I thought they were a trio. Doesn't matter. Everyone is standing and roaring in approval. There's a big Green Day backdrop banner. Searchlights probe the audience. Lights flicker through most of the visible spectra. Flares are igniting along with sporadic thundercracks. Tre is a rapid powerhouse on drums. Mike is beefysolid on bass at stage left. Billy Joe is strutting everywhere. Jeff and the two Jason's are the extra hired help on more guitars and keyboards at stage right. It's gonna be a good night...
The concert unfolds and ambles and wends it way through several gear changes. There are a lot of the hits. All fine punk melodic numbers, most of which I know, but I'm buggered if I know what they're called. Flashbacks to The Cure concert with thoughts running amok in my brain like "So that song is by Green Day. And that one. And they did this one as well? etc Still no "American Idiot" though. Ah well, be patient. And patience is required at several points when Green Day clown around. Starting a song, playing about 30 seconds and stopping. Or engaging in irritating call-and-response interludes with the audience. Like they're being paid by the second. Or note. Or grunt. Or cheer for being in HK. Some of the de-oh, de-oh, de-oh bits sound like they're channelling a hardcore Harry Belafonte. Are we wandering into the end of "Beetlejuice" here? .
My favourite section of the show comes when a long growling guitar riff is unle - (is that "Iron Man"? Fuck, yeah!) -ashed. Again it lasts less than a minute. Bill Joe is waiting for the audience to start singing. They don't. Maybe Black Sabbath is a bit too vintage for this young crowd. Everyone seems to be about 12 years old, ranging into early teens. Incuding all the mature adults. A quick gear shift and Billie Joe is belting out AC/DC's "Highway to Hell" Again there's no sing-a-long. So, the band cut loose into about 5-6 minutes of splendid spacydelic guitar. Long notes, held, shaped and sustained. Flangers working overtime. Nifty picking. It's the transcendental moment of the show for me. Worth twice the $350 I paid for my ticket. Then Billie plucks a young lady called Gabrielle from the obscurity of the mosh pit to sing a song. Tre, Mike and The Other Three have the rhythm nailed solid for her. Gabrielle's voice is flat, but so what. She knows the words, She struts her funky stuff like a super-trouper. She's got bigger balls than the entire male contingent of the audience put together. Everyone is on her side. Green Day have just given her the richest, most emotional orgasmic experience of her life. I hope her friends recorded it on their cell phones. Thank's Green Day. That was totally unexpected and a mark of greatness. I have no idea if it was a one-off moment or a ritual part of the set. But Bravo.
More hits rock and roll out. More clowning around. All the guys are introduced. Tre has been namechecked about 8 times compared to 3 times for Mike. Still no "American Idiot" and I'm starting to fee a little surly. An old Green Day song called "Burnout" is performed for the vintage fans. The single "When I come Around" gets everyone singing. Should have been a lighters in the air experience, but there's probably no smoking allowed in this hall. Gabrtielle is welcomed bsack on stage for a hug and embrace with Billie Joe and then she stage-dives into the welcome arms of the crowd. All of a sudden, the show is over....
(Consider this section the interior monologue/voice-over in a movie) Hey, Billie Joe. Why no "American Idiot"? It's a seminal song and it should be mandatory that you play it. Just because BushReich is no longer in power doesn't mean they've gone away. Your song is a clarion call to alert the sweaty masses to never vote the fuckers back into any postion more important than counting sequentially from one to infinity. American Idiots are not an endangered species. In fact, they're global. Two recent US examples are Sarah Palin who is more irritating than non stop turds stuck in the teeth. She's just joined Fox News as a regular commentator. In her own words: "I am thrilled to be joining the great talent and management team at Fox News. It's wonderful to be part of a place that so values fair and balanced news" Well.. I don't know what to say. But you should read Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars who tell them". Watch "Outfoxed" the story of how Rupert Murdoch destroyed network news. A ray of light though. Google Matthew Freud's recent comments on Roger Ayles, head honcho at Fox Programming. Freud (of Clement/Sigmund etc fame) is Rupe's son-in-law and a powerful PR man. There may be changes coming.
The second example is Pat Robertson (maybe Robinson?), the failed kingmaker of the US 2004 election and an oily televangelist who makes Torquemada look like Mother Teresa. He was recently reported on the BBC as saying the Haiti earthquake was God's punishment on that island for practising voodoo and zombie rites. This is a man whose fundamental fire-and-brimstone version of religion (at $3.99 a second on our many toll-free call in lines) has a basis in ritual cannibalism and resurrection of the dead. The Christ Mythos. How does that differ from voodoo? Unless, it's white practitioners are good. Black practitioners are bad. The man is a roiling cesspit of pious hypocrisy. May he be doomed to wander loony as a clod, forever fellating the phantoms of his forefathers. By the way, I don't mean the political Pat Robertson who worked as Nixon's speechwriter and was a good friend of Hunter Thompson. End of interior rant)
...and it's not the end of the show. The lights stayed dim and Green Day are back on stage and that buzzing riff is...is...fuck, yeah, it's "American Idiot". Life is good, even at Damon Runyon's odds of six-to-five against. The crowd has resumed going bonkers. My arm hairs are higher than a voodoo rapture. (I'm always using "horripilating" so not this time, eh) There's what sounds like a reworked version of Roger McGuin's raga/Coltrane solo from "Eight Miles High" in the middle of the song. It's brilliant. Keep playing it...but the band have finished and left e stage again. Billie Joe returns for a second encore. Solo and acoustic. He sing's "Wake me up when September comes" The final number is "Time of your Life". He's pinned under a solo spotlight like a human bug in a displayt case. The audience is silent. Billie Joe's voice is a ragged glory. A mixture of Lobo and the late Alan Hull of Lindisfarne. It's almost 2330. Two and a half hours have gone in a blissful flash. A soft shoe shuffle serenade to satisfy the soul. Sayonara, Sensei... Good night and good day, Green Day. Haste ye back.
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