Green Day in
Reading
Show Details
Location:
Reading Festival, Richfield Avenue, Little John's Farm in Reading, England
Date:
August 24, 2001
Notes:
Recordings from this show can be found [url=http://www.greendaycommunity.org/topic/91261-20010824-reading-festival-reading-england/]here[/url]
"After a gruelling first day of the festival that saw some interesting bands, but no one to fuss over, the time was here. After years and years of waiting I was finally going to see Green Day, WOO-HOO! The anticipation was there and when the trio came onstage the crowd went mad. Then Billy started to play the opening chords to Welcome To Paradise and the crowd went mad (including me) shouting out all the lyrics to the classic song. It really did surprise me just how well the crowd knew these songs, we're talking about 50,000 people here after all! After the Dookie classic we had a taste of Hitchin' A Ride which once again had the crowd really going wild. It made me wonder if I was going to survive this set because the opening two songs had me jumping all around the place like a wild animal. Billie was on his usual top form as he kept using his hi-tech (heh) water pistol to water down the crowd, we did appreciate it. His participation was top as well as he continually got the crowd doing 'hey-oh's' which he made longer and longer everytime. We were treated to the usual classics which everyone rocked out to including Longview, Basket Case, Brain Stew, She, etc. but the newer songs like Waiting (dedicated to the Foo Fighters' Taylor Hawkins) and Minority were the one's which impressed me because I never expected them to be so good live. Once again though everyone knew the words and the songs kicked ass, some more participation from Billie including him telling the crowd to shout out, 'GO HOME YOU YANKEE BASTARD!' We of course obliged him with which made him happy as he declared how much he loved us. It was that kind of attitude which made me really enjoy the set, Billie got the crowd so jacked up and participating that we all felt part of the show and when he got three members of the crowd (which took about 10 minutes) to play drums, bass and guitar while he sang Knowledge just sums up how good a performance it was. Then the best song of the night kicked in as the opening chords to When I Come Around was played and the crowd (obviously) went wild. I've always liked this song but since then it has now become one of my favourite Green Day songs because it was played with such meaning and sincerity. Everyone can really relate to that type of song and that only makes it stronger. Tre then proceeded to smash up his drums and set them on fire with a combination of beer and lighter fuel which got a huge crowd reaction. Once he was finished it left Billie alone to finish off the set with Macy's Day Parade which was a damn fine personal performance. The crowd willed him to play Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) but he didn't and that was it over and done with. It was the joint best performance of the weekend with the Manic Street Preachers and I'll never forget it. Now I need to see them live at a gig so I can enjoy more of a setlist as Green Day were only allocated a one hour set as the 2nd headlining band of the day. Those guys truly do rock."
Photos from the Show
Setlist
1. Welcome To Paradise
2. Hitchin' A Ride
3. Brain Stew
4. Jaded
5. Longview
6. Knowledge (Operation Ivy cover)
7. Basket Case
8. She
9. King For A Day
10. Waiting
11. Minority
12. When I Come Around
13. Macy's Day Parade
