Wembley Arena

London, England

22 Songs

1 Set

Dec 8, 2000 Dec 9, 2000

View on greendaylive.fm

Set 1:

Encore:

Encore 2:

#22 Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

Show Notes

Pete: "Well, this was to be my second time seeing the mighty Green Day, having been fortunate enough to catch them in a small theatre on the Nimrod tour back in '98, so I wasn't really sure what to expect from an arena show, but my hopes were high nonetheless. Anyway, arriving at the venue about half an hour after it opened didn't seem to matter, coz we got in almost straight away, and promptly had our bags, wallet chains, bracelets, mobile phones, etc... confiscated and shoved in plastic bags with raffle tickets stuck on. It then took us literally hours to get them back after the show, so we missed the last train, and got home at 4am. Wembley bag facilities completely suck arse: if you ever go there, take NOTHING with you so you don't have to deal with them. I guess my friends were a lot more excited than me, coz all half dozen of them had never seen Green day before, but I was still buzzing, I mean these guys have been my heroes since I was 12 yrs old. Bouncing Souls (top choice for support in my opinion) came on after about an hour, and played a bit of a brief half hour set. They tried their hardest, but goddamn the sound was bad for them; it sounded like they were playing in a cardboard box 2 miles away, and you could hardly hear Brian sing at all. Still, favs like 'Hopeless Romantic', 'Fight to Live' and 'Tonight' just about made it through the mix, but I doubt anyone who wasn't already a 'Souls fan (well that would be about 99% of the audience) got much from the support act. Well, that was that, and after the 'Souls finished, we had about another hour of waiting and the hall filled up FAST. I took a look around at the seats, and there were just thousands and thousands stretching back for miles... I pity those people. Anyway, just as everyone was reaching bursting point from the frustration the house lights went down, red swirling police lights flashed out from the stage, and warning sirens wailed through the cavern of Wembley Arena. I have never in my whole life heard a crowd shout so loud. Faster than you could breath Billie was onstage, followed closely by Mike and Tre. Things kicked off nicely with Nice guys finish Last, followed right away by Castaway. A couple of things were obvious right from the start: 1. Billie has a personality big enough to fill ANYWHERE and 2. The songs off Warning sound absolutely cracking live. Well after that I don't remember the order of the songs, but as well as the 2 mentioned above they played: Basket Case, Welcome to Paradise, When I come Around, F.O.D., She, Longview, Geek Stink Breath, Brain Stew/Jaded, Platypus (fuck that was good!), Hitchin' a Ride, Time of you Life, Scattered, King for a Day (complete with Billie resplendant in a crown), Going to Pasalaqua (nice surprise there), Knowledge (where Billie dragged a kid out of the seats to play guitar...badly), Warning, Waiting (which was magnificent), Blood Sex & Booze, Minority, and finished up after a mammoth 1 3/4 hour set with Macy's day Parade, with Tre leaving just enough drums in one piece to hammer out the beat. That last song was probably the high point of the night, with Billie's voice sounding better than ever throughout. All in all I thought it was a damn good show, given the circumstances. Our music press slated the show, saying Green day couldn't get a good atmosphere going in a place as big as Wembley, but I had as good a time as when I saw them in a theatre. I think it may have been a different story in the seats, though. Still, that's not really the point when you consider they turned in a 1 3/4hr set with 23 songs, and shitloads of arsing about with water guns, dancing horn section, guest guitarist (Jason from Pinhead Gunpowder), changing back banner, general humour from Billie and lovely gurning from Mike. Tre looked a bit strained, to be honest, but who wouldn't be in that place? Billie even gushed at one point 'this is one of the greatest days of my life', and I have rarely seen a band who appeared so much to be at the peak of their form. Maybe a more comprehenive theatre tour would have been better than a few arena shows, but what the hell; I've seen a hell of a lot of bands, and not one has turned in a show as good as Green Day's. Pure class."