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Forget the debate over Green Day's punk-rock credibility. At its filled-to-the-rafters Xcel Energy Center concert Friday night in St. Paul, the California trio came off like a classic-rock group worth the $350 that some veterans are now charging -- much less the $45 that it actually cost. "Classic" is how you might describe the sight of a sell-out crowd erupting to the opening riffs of "American Idiot" or singing along to each and every segment of "Jesus of Suburbia," a rock "suite" in the style of the Who. When was the last time a predominately teenage audience knew every word in a 10-minute song (or paid attention to anything for 10 minutes)? Equally classic was the Springsteen-like showmanship that frontman Billie Joe Armstrong displayed throughout the two-hour performance. He led the crowd through numerous chants, led through a singalong of "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and repeatedly performed acrobatics with his guitar. When was the last time you saw a rock star play a guitar behind his neck? Green Day at the XJeff WheelerStar TribunePerhaps most classic of all -- at least as it relates to rock's 1960s heyday -- was the political gunpowder that lit much of the show. When was the last time a concert crowd of any age cheered wildly when an F-bomb was thrown at a president, as was the case with "Holiday?" Whatever your politics, you can't deny the impact that the Bush-bashing idealism had on the show and the entire "American Idiot" album, which made Green Day the biggest rock band on MTV this year (12 years after it first hit the video-waves). The impact of the CD was evident even just by the attendance: 18,172 fans, compared to the 8,000 that saw the band's Target Center gig last November just as "American Idiot" hit stores. Green Day's Armstrong got close to the Xcel audience.Jeff WheelerStar TribuneArmstrong and Co. (including three backup musicians) veered off the new album's politics to play "Longview,"Hitchin' a Ride" and several more of its old snotty punk-rock songs. A lot of the more "punk" parts of the concert were old news in Green Day terms, like the cover of Operation Ivy's "Energy" and the gimmick where three kids climb on stage to play the instruments. The only surprise there was when one of the kids unexpectedly smashed the bass guitar, visibly shocking the band. The show ended with a surprisingly straight and rousing cover of Queen's "We Are the Champions," followed by a lighter-accompanied, arm-swaying acoustic version of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)." It doesn't get much more classic than that. |