REVIEW: Awesome As F**k DVD By Green Day

As cliché as it may sound, Green Days new DVD, Awesome as F**k is something that all fans of this band must witness. Recorded live at the Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo Japan on their 21st Century Breakdown World Tour, Awesome As F**k proves that Green Day seriously know how to entertain 37,000 odd people. It’s easy to see why they’re quite comfortably sitting on the top rung of the contemporary rock scene.

The set list of the show focuses very much on their new material although there are still plenty of old favourites including Green Day classics 'When I Come Around', 'Welcome to Paradise', '21 Guns', 'American Idiot', 'When I Come Around', and 'Good Riddance' to name just a few. One of the things that really blew me away about this performance was Billie Joe Armstrong’s showmanship. Armstrong is an absolutely phenomenal frontman who controls and captivates the crowd in a manner that adds a whole new dimension to the performance. He’s constantly involving the crowd with the music, which is something many frontmen make no attempt to do. Although Green Day are essentially a 3 piece, they perform with three other musicians which helps to create a colossal wall of sound.

Something else that became apparent to me whilst watching this performance was the fact that Green Day have absolutely no shortage of highly catchy and memorable songs. Most bands only seem to be able to produce a small number of catchy songs per album. Not Green Day. Just about all the songs on this DVD contain hugely memorable choruses which sound monstrous in this arena. When it’s finished your brain isn’t sure which chorus it wants to have going through your head.

All in all, Green Days performance in Tokyo is one definitely worth witnessing for all fans new and old. Although 21st Century Breakdown probably didn’t appeal to many early Green Day fans, this performance helps encapsulate Green Day as both a legendary 90’s punk band and now a 21st century stadium rock band.

The 'Awesome As F**k' CD is a mixture of various live recordings the band made around the world on their 21st Century Breakdown World Tour.
 

CD
21st Century Breakdown - (London, England)
Know Your Enemy - (Manchester, England)
East Jesus Nowhere - (Glasgow, Scotland)
Holiday - (Dublin, Ireland)
Gloria - (Dallas, Texas)
Cigarettes And Valentines - (Phoenix, Arizona)
Burnout - (Irvine, California)
Pasalaqua - (Chula Vista, California )
JAR - (Detroit, Michigan - August 23rd 2010)
Holden Caulfield - (New York, New York)
Geek Stink Breath - (Saitama-shi, Japan)
When I Come Around - (Berlin, Germany)
She - (Brisbane, Australia - December 8th 2009)
21 Guns - (Mountain View, California)
American Idiot - (Montreal, QUE)
Wake Me Up - (Nickelsdorf, Austria)
Good Riddance - (Nickelsdorf, Austria)

DVD
21st Century Breakdown
Know Your Enemy
East Jesus Nowhere
Holiday
Static Age
Gloria
Blvd. Of Broken Dreams
Burnout
Geek Stink Breath
Welcome To Paradise
When I Come Around
She
21 Guns
American Eulogy
Jesus Of Suburbia
Good Riddance

By Hugh Collins