To see Green Day on tour in 2017 is to see a band at an apex in its career, fully in command of its performance powers with a rocking and entirely relevant album to promote in Revolution Radio. After a yearslong hiatus from the road, during which the trio weathered cancer scares and watched as the political climate changed, Green Day hit the stage March 1 in Phoenix with “Know Your Enemy” from 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown before live-premiering “Bang Bang” and the title cut from Revolution. It seems like the third chapter in the Book of Green Day has commenced with a vengeance.
Green Day’s eras of evolution are fairly distinct. Formed by childhood friends Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt in 1986, Green Day was one of the breakout bands of the late-’80s Berkeley, Calif., punk scene centered around hallowed venue 924 Gilman Street. Armstrong and Dirnt built Green Day’s reputation with releases on Lookout Records, and were joined by drummer Tré Cool by 1991’s Kerplunk. Geffen Records came calling at a time when alternative music was running out of steam, and by the time they released 1994 album Dookie, the three were poised to kick grunge to the curb and give the next sub-generation something fun to crowdsurf to.
Insomniac followed in 1995, and 1997’s Nimrod featured poignant acoustic hit “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” By the time 2000’s Warning was released, the end of one cycle seemed to be ending, and whether a punk trio from Berkeley could make a bridge to middle age would remain unanswered until 2004’s American Idiot marked a change. A politically charged concept album, it was the first “rock opera” of substance in years and put Armstrong in league with The Who’s Pete Townshend as a visionary singer-songwriter.
Few people expected it would become a Broadway production, much less a hit that Armstrong would eventually star in for a stint. Green Day went from being a punk band that broke through to the mainstream to being a household name. Musically, they made another rock opera with 21st Century Breakdown, which became a self-fulfilling prophecy as the band gradually became unfocused and Armstrong had a meltdown at the 2012 iHeart-Radio Music Festival. Armstrong subsequently went into rehab, and Green Day took a break that became extended when both Dirnt’s wife and touring guitarist (and 2012-’16 band member) Jason White received cancer diagnoses and underwent successful treatments.
The break did not become final. Green Day reconvened for a five-month recording session that yielded Revolution Radio, which was released in October and debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. After acoustically strummed opener “Somewhere Now” establishes Armstrong’s reflective mood, he gets inside a mass shooter’s mind in thrashy “Bang Bang” and urgently urges listeners to “Scream, with your hands up in the sky / Like you want to testify / For the life that’s been deleted” on the title song. It’s a call to resist that Green Day is infusing in its live shows, which are receiving critical accolades for the energy level the 40-something musicians display onstage.
After three decades together, Green Day may have embarked on its most relevant chapter yet.
MGM Grand, 8 p.m. April 7, starting at $45 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
