Green Day - Bullet In ABible

Mon 19th Dec, 2005 in Music Reviews

“This song is not anti-American, it’s anti-WAR!” Billie Joe Armstrong howls over the beginning of Holiday, as a crowd of 70,000 Englishmen and women crammed into the expansive Milton Keynes Bowl go absolutely apeshit.

It’s somewhat telling that Armstrong feels the need to justify the sentiment behind his squillion-selling anti-Bush hit, for it indicates the sort of audience that Green Day now play for. Gone are the left wing kids in Bad Religion t-shirts (to be fair, they’re not entirely gone, but these days they’re outnumbered) and instead the crowd is a mass of ages, genders, nationalities and, you would suspect, various political preferences. Make no doubt about it, Green Day have graduated to rock royalty, to be mentioned in the same breath as U2 and Coldplay.

Bullet in a Bible is – it comes as a surprise – the band’s first live release in a career which has spanned almost two decades. The lavish CD/DVD package, wrapped in a clear slipcase resplendent with Billie Joe silhouette, couldn’t have come at a better time with the band’s 2005 world tour the most extravagant yet, complete with fireworks, huge TV screens and plenty of hoopla.

The DVD is superbly shot, with multiple cameras capturing all the band’s action as well as the fan excitement. The show runs exactly as you’d expect with the recent American Idiot, the epic Jesus of Suburbia, the aforementioned Holiday, We Are The Waiting and St. Jimmy all getting a run before a mid-set “greatest hits” bracket, comprising Longview, Hitchin’ a Ride, Brain Stew and Basket Case back to back.

Armstrong has grown from a snotty brat likely to smash his guitar into a fully fledged rock front man, whipping the crowd into a frenzy with witty banter and a mind-boggling display of energy, sprinting from one side of the stage to another for the entire length of the show. Bassist Mike Dirnt, “the best bass player in the history of punk rock,” says Armstrong, and drummer Tre Cool, “the best drummer in rock and roll” hold down the fort with some of the tightest musicianship you’ll ever see while still finding the time for the odd rock pose.

Those who attended the band’s recent Australian stadium shows will find scant new here – Armstrong hasn’t even changed much of his banter for the entire year. Bullet in a Bible serves as an edited version of the recent shows, with all cover versions – including their nightly shtick of getting some fans from the crowd to get on stage and jam to Operation Ivy’s Knowledge - sadly omitted from the DVD.

Songs on the DVD are interspersed with snippets of backstage footage, interviews surrounding the creation of the American Idiot album and tour and footage of the boys visiting the London War Museum and being truly touched by some of the tour guide’s stories. The footage reflects a matured and humbled Green Day; a camera darts around a corner backstage hoping to find the band drinking heavily or engaging in tomfoolery, rather, they are gargling water and warming up their voices. Dirnt admits to nerves before every show and the band’s two-night stint at the venue – performing to 130,000 people in total – are described by Armstrong as “the biggest shows in the history of punk rock,” with wide-eyed honour.

A spirited Minority is sandwiched in between Wake me up When September Ends and Boulevard of Broken Dreams at the end of the set, before Armstrong takes centre stage for a solo run through of Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).

And then it’s over, and then the kids – interviewed before the gig dressed in Armstrong’s attire of all black, a red tie and a studded belt – retreat home to the suburbs and dream of becoming rock stars.

The audio CD part of the package cuts out most of the banter, but the music is of top-notch quality and serves as a decent accompaniment to the DVD.

Conveniently released in time for Christmas, Bullet in a Bible is a worthwhile addition to the collection of any Green Day fan but those who despised the band through their Dookie, Insomniac, Nimrod and Warning phases are unlikely to find the bells-and-whistles American Idiot stage show anything to write home about. The rest of us can continue to play air guitar to Basket Case, just like we were back in 1995.