- Green Day Recording Live Album
Band announced live disc at show last week in Denver.
By Gil Kaufman
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong
Photo: Shirlaine Forrest/ WireImage
It's been less than five years since their first official live album, but Green Day are already working on a second one. Singer Billie Joe Armstrong announced at a show in Denver, Colorado, on Friday that the group is recording performances for a follow-up to 2005's Bullet in a Bible.
The veteran punk trio has only released one new studio album since Bible came out, last year's song cycle 21st Century Breakdown, but Armstrong hinted at the show that the new live disc might contain some rarities when he set up the unreleased gem "Cigarettes and Valentines."
"Hey, I just want to tell you something right now. We're recording a live f---ing album right now," Armstrong told the crowd at the Comfort Dental Amphitheater in Denver on Saturday, video of which was posted on YouTube. "So check it out, we're gonna play a brand-new song. ... It ain't that brand-new. This song is called 'Cigarettes and Valentines.' " The band then broke into the classic three-chord blitzkrieg, which, as Armstrong noted, is not exactly new, but hasn't officially been released.
The tune was recorded in 2003 while Green Day were working on the follow-up to the 2002 B-sides compilation Shenanigans for an album that was supposed to bear the same title. But after the master tapes for the project were stolen from the studio, Green Day scrapped the whole thing and got to work on the disc that would revive their career and make them international superstars, American Idiot.
A spokesperson for the band's label could not be reached at press time to confirm the recording of the live album or provide details on when the disc might be released.
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- What's It Like To Sing With Green Day At Lollapalooza? Dan Michie Knows
'The entire time, I wasn't even thinking,' super-fan tells MTV News of performing 'Longview' with the band.
By James Montgomery
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong performs at Lollapalooza
Photo: Rich Sancho/ MTV News
It's been a fixture at recent Green Day shows for the band to pick a hyperventilating fan out of the crowd and have them sing "Longview," but rarely — if ever — do they perform the song as mightily as 17-year-old Dan Michie, who wowed fans with his rendition (and boundless enthusiasm) during the band's Saturday night set at Lollapalooza.
In fact, Michie ruled the stage to such an extent that MTV News tracked him down and asked him all about his moment in the spotlight. And, not surprisingly, he doesn't remember a whole lot of it.
"To be honest, the entire time, I wasn't even thinking. It just happened," he laughed. "When Billie [Joe Armstrong] picked me, everyone was screaming so loudly that I didn't know what he was saying. I knew he was pointing to someone around me, and before I knew it, security was yanking me over the barrier. One guard carried me like a baby and pushed me towards the stage, and then, since it was the first time I'd used my legs in like eight hours, I almost tripped and fell on my face."
Luckily, he didn't. He slowly got to the stage and saw Armstrong (and tens of thousands of fans) staring directly at him. And then, things went completely blank.
"There are no words to describe it. If you've ever seen 80,000 people before, that's one thing, but seeing them look back at you, that's something that doesn't even seem real," Michie said. "And then, when I was walking towards [Armstrong] to give him a hug, I was just thinking, 'Oh my God.' You see him in pictures every day, but it's a completely different thing to see him in real life."
And then, after giving Armstrong a quick kiss — "It was kind of wet," Michie joked — Green Day kicked into the song, and Michie just sort of took off. He rocketed back and forth across the stage, belting out the lyrics perfectly, while the crowd cheered and the band tried very hard not to crack up. And, as is par for the course, he doesn't really remember much of this either.
"It just happened. I didn't have to think of the words; they just came out," he said. "And I had seen videos of other fans singing [the song], and they just stood there, so I knew I wanted to run around and go crazy. But I don't really remember doing it."
After his performance — and subsequent ovation — Armstrong gave Michie a guitar, which was certainly amazing but sort of presented him with a whole new challenge: How the heck was he going to get home? He had originally planned on taking the train, but Green Day's tour manager wouldn't allow it, so, for a moment, he appeared to be stuck in Grant Park. Thankfully, the band arranged for a driver to take Michie back to his house in the suburbs of Chicago, where he — and the guitar — now safely rest. And though he plays in a band (they're called Patmos), he has no plans of ever using the guitar onstage.
"It's going in a frame," he said.
In the days since his performance, Michie has become a bit of a star. Footage from Lollapalooza has made the rounds on YouTube, and complete strangers are leaving him congratulatory messages on his Facebook page. For a kid who's a Green Day obsessive, it's pretty much the greatest thing that ever could've happened. And it's made even sweeter by the fact that he had come so close to joining the band before, only to have his hopes dashed at the last second.
"When I saw Green Day at the United Center last summer, Billie was looking for people to pull up and play 'Jesus of Suburbia' on guitar," he said. "I had a sign, and after he had pulled up a kid and kicked him off right away, he talked to me for a solid 13 seconds about playing the song. He then proceeded to pick a kid who was about three people away from me. I know what it's like to be disappointed like that, but believe me, if you try really hard and be nice to people, your dreams will come true."
What would you do if your favorite band pulled you up onstage? Let us know in the comments!
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- Green Day Bring The Power, Phoenix Add The Finesse: Saturday At Lollapalooza
Saturday night's headliners were a scintillating study of contrasts.
By James Montgomery and Kyle Anderson
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong performs at Lollapalooza on Saturday
Photo: Rich Sancho/ MTV News
CHICAGO — Unless you happen to play in one of Perry Farrell's bands (and that band happens to be Jane's Addiction), the opportunity to headline Lollapalooza doesn't come around all that often. So, if you get your shot, you might as well go for it. And that was very much the mindset of both of Saturday's (August 7) bill-toppers, though, much like Friday night's Lady Gaga/Strokes face-off, Green Day and Phoenix were a study in contrasts. Both definitely rocked, they just did in very different ways.
Green Day, of course, pummeled, powered, and pulled out all the stops during their two-plus hour set, reaching deep into their expansive back catalog and using every crowd-pleasing trick in the rock-band hat. And then they invented a few more stunts just for the sake of it. Seriously, if it weren't for the city of Chicago's noise ordinances, they'd probably still be at it.
Bottle-blonde Billie Joe Armstrong bounded back and forth across the stage, led the crowd in countless sing-a-longs, pranced, danced, collapsed, rose again, and at one point, played a solo with his guitar behind his head. While standing on one leg. He pulled kids young and old from the crowd--letting them sing choruses (on "East Jesus Nowhere") or entire songs ("Longview," which was belted out by a kid who totally, completely killed it), assisting them in stage dives, or fire off water cannons. He shouted "Chicago!" more times than the entire Daley clan combined. He donned a feather boa. He mooned the crowd. He fired off T-shirt cannons and toilet paper guns. And at no point did he appear to even be the slightest bit tired.
"They said they're gonna pull the plug on us at 10 ... I told them to kiss my f--king ass, we'll play for as long as we want," he shouted at one point.
"You paid your hard-earned money to buy a ticket to tonight," he yelled later in the set. "It is my honor and my privilege to give you the best f---ing show you've ever seen in your life."
And judging by the boundless energy displayed by his Green Day mates, he wasn't the only one feeling this way. Mike Dirnt scowled and strutted, always keeping his bass thuddingly precise. Tre Cool vamped it up on an extended version of the Isley Brother's "Shout" (while wearing a sun hat, horn-rimmed spectacles and a red brazier, it should be noted), and kept the back beat cracking. At this point, Green Day are a poundingly precise Rock and Roll machine, as evidenced by the covers they effortlessly worked into the set--everything from the opening riffs of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man," and the first verse of the Guns 'N Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" to the chorus of the Beatles' "Hey Jude"--and the sheer spectacle of their show, an eye-popping, ear-splitting series of pyro bursts and fireworks explosions.
Oh, and obviously, the songs were pretty terrific too: "21st Century Breakdown" spanned several changes but was always focused and crowd-uniting, "Hitching A Ride" thundered along and eventually broke into a fiery crescendo, "She" was zip-gun speedy, and "Brain Stew/Jaded" started crunchy and static, stretched into a lengthy jam (complete with water/T-shirt cannon interlude), then came rifling home at a breakneck pace. There were a dozen other highlights. Simply put, Green Day know how to put on a rock show. A big, loud, bombastic one. And when they finally closed with "Jesus of Suburbia," they certainly didn't need a break ... but the crowd might very well have.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Grant Park, there was a rock show of a different sort happening. On the one hand, Phoenix aren't the typical Lollapalooza headliner. For one thing, they are French -- as in, extremely French. Their brand of European formalism doesn't necessarily jive with the freewheeling energy on the grounds at Lolla.
Then again, they're really the ideal headliner for Saturday night. Their jaunty mix of jangly indie rock, easy singalong melodies and groovy, dance-friendly electronic froth sound like the favorite band of one of the characters on Perry Farrell's Satellite Party record. After a warm day at Lollapalooza, they provided a soothing antidote to the heat and the growing exhaustion among the festival-goers. Their smooth, easy tunes cascaded over Grant Park and engulfed the thousands gathered in a swirl of Euro-disco-rock giddiness.
Frontman Thomas Mars seemed genuinely touched by the heavy crowd gathered for their headlining set. They turned up the energy immediately, kicking off the set with "Lisztomania," the kickoff track from their Grammy-winning album Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. Though the clearly committed crowd greeted the group's older tunes (like "Long Distance Call" and "Everything Is Everything") warmly, it was the Wolfgang songs that really won the evening. The ubiquitous "1901" surfed its killer synth riff into the ether, while "Lasso" inspired all sorts of manic dance moves among the revelers.
It was a fitting end to a funky, groovy day at Lollapalooza. Cut Copy preempted the Phoenix set with a batch of pounding beat science, Spoon brought a classic rock swagger to their deep catalog, AFI super-charged the afternoon with a blast of glammy goth and Against Me! laid out the huge riffs of White Crosses for a refreshing aggro jolt. With 48 hours of Lollapalooza in the books, the energy remains high and the performances continue to deliver in surprising ways. Just probably not at the same level Green Day did. Or Phoenix, too.
Lollapalooza 2010 is happening now — make sure to check out MTV News' Lollapalooza Live, streaming Saturday and Sunday at 5 p.m., right here on MTV.com. And follow all of Lollapalooza on the MTV Newsroom blog.
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- Lollapalooza 2010 Heats Up Chicago!
MTV News takes you behind the scenes at the sizzling festival.
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- 'American Idiot' Cast Brings Broadway Punk To 'Good Morning America'
Green Day fans and theater geeks flood Central Park for musical tribute.
By Christopher MacAllister
Cast members of "American Idiot" perform on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday
Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
NEW YORK — If someone came up to you and called you an American idiot, you wouldn't react too kindly. But for the people in the audience for Friday's "Good Morning America" Summer Concert, the insult became a chant of praise for the cast of Green Day's Broadway musical. Families and punk rockers alike had gathered in Central Park, holding up signs and wearing T-shirts for "American Idiot" and the band behind the Tony-winning show.
The cast opened with the chorus of "American Idiot," accompanied by a mixture of choreographed movement and punkish freestyle head-banging, getting the audience excited. They ended with the salute to punk rock, their fists held in the air as the audience screamed.
The audience waited patiently as host Robin Roberts talked about the cast and show, but some of the actors passed the time by doing flips. Finally, lead actor John Gallagher Jr. stepped onto the stage with a guitar, singing the beginning verse of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," accompanied by violins, and eventually the rest of the cast. Then they transitioned to the faster-paced "Holiday." There were a few wobbly standouts as each actor sang a line, but the rest of the cast and the audience helped out with the mighty "Amen!" the song asks for. They also shouted "Hey!" the way Billie Joe Armstrong does at Green Day shows.
After a break, and more praise from George Stephanopoulis, star Rebecca Jones sang "Letterbomb" (with some swear words taken out) while the other female castmembers danced. After Jones called out, "Wake up, America!" the guys arrived onstage and sang the opening verse of "American Idiot." And though this was the second time this song was played (with the same choreography), the audience didn't seem to mind.
Guitars in hand, the cast ended their set with "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," the song that has ended many a Green Day show.
"It was awesome! They really captured the spirit of Green Day," one fan said after the show. "We saw the actual Broadway show on Wednesday, and even though [this] was shorter, it was just as good!"
What has been your favorite morning talk-show concert this summer? Talk about it in the comments.
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- Green Day Say 'Rock Band' Makes Them 'Look Like Superheroes'
The band has some wacky ideas for what else game's developers can do with their avatars.
By James Montgomery
"Green Day: Rock Band"
One of — OK, probably the — biggest perk in getting your own video game is actually being in the game itself. At least that's what the guys in Green Day told us when we asked them about the just-released "Green Day: Rock Band." It seems that, much like James Cameron, the band was avatar crazy.
"We look like superheroes!" frontman Billie Joe Armstong laughed. "You know, it'd be interesting if they made the 'Rock Band' version of us getting out of bed in the morning, you know, like, scratching yourself and then making coffee."
"They were pretty gracious. They didn't give me nearly as many pimples as I had when I was younger," bassist Mike Dirnt added of the game's developers. "They managed to somehow make me look a little better than I did when I was younger [and] now too."
And while "Rock Band" may make Armstong, Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool look even better than they normally do (no offense intended) and goes to great length to capture their likenesses at various stages in their career — from scowling, scatological-minded kids to well-worn, worldly vets — the guys in Green Day wonder why the developers didn't take the avatar technology one step further. The way they see it, the possibilities are endless.
"They've got to come up with like, a beer bottle, for [when] you'll play the guitar, and then you reach for a drink and then, you can get points right there ... it's like, the whole graphic will show up, you know?" Armstrong smiled. "A lit cigarette at the top of the guitar, [smoke it] put it back. [There's] no end to the possibilities."
And if the avatar situation can be that advanced, why stop there?
"There could be interviews in the game too. Like, a concept where you have a journalist that comes up with the microphone and [the player] will have a microphone and have to match the interview," Armstrong said. "You know, get it right, you get points off that. It's a great idea — you guys, are you writing this down?"
"They can call it 'Embedded Journalist 2!' " Dirnt laughed.
MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our blog.
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- Green Day Got Proudly 'Pwned' At Their Own 'Rock Band'
'I couldn't even finish the song,' Tre Cool laughs to MTV News.
By James Montgomery
Green Day
Photo: MTV News
Through all the "Green Day: Rock Band"-related stories about dye jobs and song selections we've written this week, there remains one topic we haven't explored yet. And, to be honest, it's a fairly pertinent one: Are the guys in Green Day actually good at playing their game?
You would think the answer would be yes, considering they wrote the songs and all. But, oddly, you'd be wrong.
"Well I did an interactive thing with some random 'Rock Band' players all throughout the world, and I got my ass kicked really bad," drummer Tre Cool laughed. "I couldn't even finish the song."
"Tre got pwned," bassist Mike Dirnt laughed.
"I did! I got pwned!" Cool shrugged. "Pwned like a newb."
So while they might not be great at the game, at least the guys in Green Day are all pros when it comes to gamer lingo. But what, exactly, was it about the game that they found so difficult?
"For me, it's really hard. I think I'd rather play the guitar on the game. The drums are really hard," Cool said. "But what's cool about the kit that you get is, you can put it on free-play mode and the practice mode, and you've got an electric drum set. So it's kind of cool."
"That's actually really cool," Dirnt added.
And the electric drum set has an added feature, one "Rock Band" developers probably never even dreamed of: the power to annoy.
"You can jam around in your living room and piss off the neighbors," Cool smiled. "Like I care about pissing off the neighbors."
MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our Multiplayer blog. For a chance to win a "Rock Band" guitar signed by the guys in Green Day, head over to the MTV Newsroom blog.
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- Green Day Want To 'Keep Adding' Earlier Songs To 'Rock Band'
'It would be great to see songs from 39/Smooth and Kerplunk,' frontman Billie Joe Armstrong says of new game's track list.
By James Montgomery
Green Day
Photo: MTV News
When you've got a discography that stretches all the way back to 1989, cramming all of it into one video game is sort of tough. That was exactly the problem facing Green Day when they partnered with the publishers of the "Rock Band" franchise — there was just too much music.
So while the just-released "Green Day: Rock Band" features 47 tracks spanning the band's entire career, it opens to their breakout 1994 album, Dookie, which any astute GD fan can tell you was actually their third studio record. But some omissions might prove to be temporary, according to the guys in the band.
"That's what's cool about the 'Rock Band' thing, is if we want to add more songs, we can do it online, in the future," drummer Tre Cool explained. "If we want to do some surprises and stuff, we can always keep adding to it."
"Yeah, it would be great to see songs that are from, you know, [Green Day's 1990 debut] 39/Smooth and ['92's] Kerplunk, to come out on it," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong added. "You know, that's what's exciting ... to visit some of the older songs too."
But until those older songs are made available, Green Day fans are going to have to make due with the 47 tracks that did make the cut, a list that includes all of Dookie, American Idiot and most of 21st Century Breakdown, not to mention songs from their Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning albums too. And that's part of the fun for the guys in Green Day: looking back on older tunes, and even rehearing them as "stems," remixed for the game by Chris Lord-Alge.
"It's exciting for me to hear the song 'She,' and you know, that was fun to watch and play," Armstrong smiled. "And hearing the stems that they had to do with Chris Lord-Alge, who ended up doing all the different mixes for it to bring out the drums and the guitars and bass and vocals. That was really exciting too, for people to see or, to play or to hear again."
MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our Multiplayer blog. For a chance to win a "Rock Band" guitar signed by the guys in Green Day, head over to the MTV Newsroom blog.
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- All About 'Green Day: Rock Band'
The legendary punk trio break down why they agreed to get involved with "Rock Band."
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- 'Green Day: Rock Band' Features Decades Of Dye Jobs And Tattoos
'I thought we could have a lot of fun with 'Rock Band' and highlight different times in our career,' Mike Dirnt tells MTV News.
By James Montgomery
Green Day
Photo: MTV News
Capturing the likeness of a band that's spent the past two decades rifling through Manic Panic and tattoo ink at a breakneck pace was one of the biggest challenges facing the designers of "Green Day: Rock Band," and Green Day were more than ready to put them to the test.
"I think we were sort of challenging the programmers and the game designers, like, 'OK, but can you do this?' " drummer Tre Cool said. "And they're like, 'Sure!' 'Well ... can you do this?' 'Yeah!' 'OK, but it's got to be ... ' 'Yeah!' They were really good."
"I thought we could have a lot of fun with 'Rock Band' and highlight different times in our career," bassist Mike Dirnt said. "I thought it was a really cool way to kind of show people, you know, just different things [about the group] in a format the size of a TV set."
It seems that — nearly as much as their music — Green Day's career can be broken down into specific looks too: the baby dreadlocks and eye-popping dye jobs of the Dookie days; the bottle-blond, leather-jacket look of the Warning era; or the black spikes (and even blacker eyeliner) of American Idiot, to name just a few. And the designers of "Rock Band" knew that — which is why all those looks made the cut. Plus a whole lot more, too.
"Different details come up in the game that go from, you know, 1994 through 2000. Plus, what year is it now? 2009, 2010?" frontman Billie Joe Armstrong laughed. "And just kind of seeing the different tattoos and wearing a T-shirt I remember. Like, the T-shirt that I wore, and I wrote 'Stupid' on it and put an arrow up to my face. And that's the kind of details that they seem to nail."
And while the hairstyles and tattoos might be instantly recognizable to Green Day fans, there's another — slightly newer — detail that designers decided to include almost as a joke: the band's Drunk Bunny, which started making appearances during American Idiot performances and has since become a fan favorite. And, yes, his inclusion made all the difference to the guys in the band.
"Yeah, that's great too. Sometimes when we were playing festivals, whoever was playing right before us weren't quite getting the crowd going, so I think we ended up with a friend of ours just putting a bunny costume on and said, 'Hey, go warm up the crowd!' " Armstrong smiled. "So, you know, they'd just down beers and get everybody to do the YMCA, you know? It's definitely a nice touch."
MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our Multiplayer blog. For a chance to win a "Rock Band" guitar signed by the guys in Green Day, head over to the MTV Newsroom blog.
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