Live: Green Day @ the HP Pavilion 8/19

It’s rare to find an established band that cares so much about their live show. At a certain point, groups usually find the magic in performing is gone, and they don’t mind letting their energy slack, their showmanship drop. It’s a common, if unnerving part of the live concert experience, but it’s a fact of life in the music world.

Thankfully, it was a fact of life that was absent from the HP Pavilion last night.

Bay Area rockers Green Day pushed through nearly three hours of music with blistering 3-chord aplomb, passionate singing, and a dazzling pyrotechnics show. The venue served as a perfect setting for the band, which served as intimate while still allowing for the stadium bravado of their latest album, 21st Century Breakdown.

Yet, the evening opened up humbly enough with Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand. The four piece warmed the crowd up with their jangly take on Kinks’ inspired dance rock and kept fans quite engaged throughout. From the raucous dance hall thump of “This Fire” to the messy call and response of “Take Me Out,” singer/guitarist Alex Kapranos lead his group with his robotic delivery and gentile charm.

While Franz Ferdinand performed well enough, the audience was clearly hungry for Green Day, a sentiment made very clear by the wave of screams that emanated as “Song Of The Century” blared through the speakers. Then, as singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool all took the stage, pandemonium broke out all across the floor.

Beginning with the crashing riffs of “21st Century Breakdown” Green Day’s nearly three hour set covered much of the latest album as well as their 2004 rock opera American Idiot. Fans were treated to the grungy shuffle of “East Jesus Nowhere,” the athematic anti war rhetoric of “Holiday,” and the frantic hardcore of “St. Jimmy,” each one executed to perfection in an effort to outshine their studio counterparts.

Considering their incessant need to move around the stage, it’s a marvel how Green Day is able to keep their sound in check. Everything remains in perfect balance from Cool’s fluid drumming and Armstrong’s thick but brash guitar. Cuts such as the hopelessly romantic “She” continue to show that Dirnt has some of the dirtiest bass lines in rock, perfectly suiting Armstrong’s strong delivery. Touring guitarist Jason White kept up with the disciplined Berkeley unit with searing lead work his own, adding depth and melody to Green Day’s frenzied pace.

Still, it’s a feat to see Green Day still ecstatic about capturing the energy of these songs, and in many cases improving on them. While the first half of the show drew from their 00s output, but the second half brought all the fan favorites. From the crunchy “Welcome To Paradise” and “Basket Case,” to the sludgy “Brain Stew,” Armstrong’s snotty snarl made each syllable jump and each fan scream. It’s clear that nearly 20 years into their career, Green Day understand how to create a rapport with the crowd.

“Put away your fucking video cameras! We’ve gotta connect as human beings!” screamed an excited Armstrong before launching into a thunderous rendition of “The Static Age.”

Despite being near their hometown, it’s clear that Armstrong really tries his best to connect with fans during a Green Day show. Throughout the course of the set list, Armstrong brought up crowd members to stage dive, play guitar, or even sing verses alongside him. In fact, there wasn’t a song that went by where Armstrong didn’t attempt to make the crowd part of the experience, make them more than just bystanders.

Armstrong’s charisma extended beyond just shouting out the event’s venue, it exuded from him. From the way he’d hold notes just a little too long, or the anecdotes he’d share with fans, it was clear that Armstrong wanted fans to see these songs the way he did. Before launching into the propulsive “Murder City” Armstrong told the crowd about how he wrote the track, a mere day after the BART police shooting on New Year’s. Such tidbits are personal for the band, and it was clear that the audience appreciated Armstrong letting them into Green Day’s world.

The show picked up again towards the end. “21 Guns” arrested the audience with shimmering lead work as Cool’s military style drumming provided the song’s backbone, sparks and fireworks showering the band on stage. After a gritty and savage run through of “American Eulogy,” the band returned with the three song encore of “American Idiot,” “Jesus Of Suburbia,” and “Minority” as if to ask their fans to join them in expending just a little more energy.

Armstrong returned alone with an acoustic guitar for a sweet and somber second encore. While the show had reveled in Armstrong’s mile-a-minute theatricality, it was here that he pulled in audiences without so much as a word. Offering up bare acoustic versions of “Christie Road,” “Last Night On Earth” and “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life),” it was clear that Armstrong had succeeded in his quest to connect with his fans.

Green Day may be an institution now, but it’s clear that the love they have for their songs and for their fans will always result in a live show that THEY care about. Thinking about it in those terms, it’s hard to imagine the band offering up anything less.