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Still listening to Lowlife non-stop Green Day is the best band EVER 🫶

I haven't had a proper moment to sit down with this and listen straight through, but I've been listening to it on the go when I can, especially the "new" stuff, and it's really mind-blowing. I can't believe I was expecting to be disappointed! I didn't even realize there was going to be an alternative AI so I was very shocked when that started playing on Spotify while I was driving, ha. It's amazing to me that they were at such peak performance during this era that they could shelve and chop up a song like Lowlife. I love it. You compare it to the stuff that made it onto the trilogy and FOAM it's like it's not even the same band! It's also hilarious that I was so hyped to hear Homecoming this tour. Now normal Homecoming just sounds boring. It feels so weird to hear all this now after hearing the finished product and seeing how beloved it became. Man, we could be living in a very strange alternate reality right now if they didn't go back to the drawing board. Now I'm really curious how the band feels listening to all this old stuff too!

I agree with this. And also with this. My 2 cents on this, drawn from personal experience: never forget the people "on the other side" are as human and as complex as you are. I come from Venezuela where we have a dictatorship that started as a democratic populist movement. I was quite an activist against this, involved in many peaceful protests, in norganized student groups, etc. Now I'm in France with a touch of PTSD, my sister had to flee to the US, etc. It's a shit show. But now that I am physically, mentally, and emotionally distanced from that mess I can see that a huge mistake all of us in the opposition made was to never really try to understand why people who liked Chavez / Maduro liked them, to never really try to empathize with them and just understand where they were coming from, without judgement, without reducing them to a label. If we had done that we could have reached them so much sooner, when it was not too late. In Brit's case she's made it perfectly clear where she's coming from. She's very concerned about what she puts in her body, particularly about the COVID vaccines. A very understandable stance, especially for someone who survived cancer at a relatively young age. And back in 2021 there were very strict vaccine mandates, and we (I include myself here) got very self-righteous about the absolute need for everyone to get the vaccine, and that everyone who didn't was either self-fish, or didn't care about elder/sick/immunocompromised people, or were just stupid for not understanding the science. There was, and in some ways there still is, a lot of shaming against people who didn't want to get the vaccine, which is not at all a good way to persuade anyone to get the vaccine, but has quite the opposite effect. The more aggressive people get about it, the more people who are afraid or doubtful about the vaccine will recoil, and it become a vicious cycle. I remember she has shared plenty of times messages people have sent her that have been extremely hostile, to the point of telling her they wish she was dead, or that they hope she gets cancer again. When that is the treatment you get from some of the people who support one party, it's no wonder you are going to run in the opposite direction, especially when in the opposing party no one is treating you this way. So in her mind I don't think she's supporting a fascist guy, she is supporting the party that didn't implement vaccine mandates, the party where people haven't shamed her or wished her harm just because she didn't want to get a vaccine she didn't understand, the party that she thinks is most likely to put tougher regulations on vaccines, etc. This is true not only of her but of many many people who are supporting Trump right now and who are/were supporting RFK Jr. I think if people look at this particular section of Trump supporters through that more understanding lens, and engage in a frank dialogue with them, without judgement, without shaming, without calling them fascist / fascist supporters, you are way more likely to get through to them. And in the end, this election is so close that it might very well be that section of the population who will ultimately make the difference in the votes. All that said, it was pretty unnecessary for her to go so publicly against Billie after he made his endorsement. She has shared political content and has made her opinions clear plenty of time and no one from the band has come publicly after her. Now Billie is making his opinion clear, let him be just as they have let you be. IMO that response was just a way to start conflict, whether it was intentional or not. Rant over, sorry.

Hopefully Mike will get deserved credit….his writing being alone in the studio led to homecoming and led to the birth of their opera era. Mike was critical in this it seems. Wish he’d write and sing more.

I lose respect for people who support fascists, that's just me tho ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Birmingham show was my first Green Day show too. At the time I’d been made redundant and was doing temporary work. Every time I took on a new job I had to say “I need this week off in October, it’s very important, I have to take this week off.” One guy said to me “why do you need to see them four times?!” But I’m so glad I did. It was the first time I’d ever tried to buy tickets online (you used to queue up to get them at the box office!) and I’d got three other people at work trying too. One of them had worked for Gigs and Tours so she was the “ticket buying expert.” She said a Nottingham show was pencilled in but they went for Sheffield instead because there are no 5 star hotels in Nottingham. Anyway reading this almost brought me to tears! That was a special time. It was like we were in this magical bubble and the stage was in a magical mist. We were actually there watching Green Day. And Give Me Novacaine… oh my God. I was drenched in sweat and I rubbed my feet raw dancing! I actually ripped my toenails off, my toes were bleeding and I had a huge blister on the back of my foot. Billie did that thing he used to do when he went “one thousand! Two thousand! Three thousand! Four thousand! Five thousand! Six thousand!” up to 16,000 (the capacity of the venue). I remember Tre standing up at the drums in Minority while Billie did the introductions. Every show on that tour just made you want to go back. You’d see them and you were just thirsty for some more. You just wanted to see it again and again and again because it was just so good. The band were just perfectly tight and in sync like they were tied together by string. It was wild.

I know I‘m just repeating what has been said many times now but I absolutely love Lowlife. The lines „I wanna be alright. I wanna be okay tonight“ bring tears to my eyes.❤️ This Anniversary Box in combination with the release of Unt and the upcoming European tour make me so happy to be alive at the moment, even if the world around us is slowly falling to pieces…

I'm not saying anyone who disagrees with my personal opinions is a fascist. What I am saying is that there is one major political party in the US headed by a fascist, Billie was expressing support for the party not headed by a fascist, Brit was giving him shit for that, and I think that was dumb to do she shouldn't have. When you're part of a family of a band whose key principles are openness and inclusion, maybe don't air your catfights with the frontman in public? I also didn't say she doesn't have the right to have shitty opinions, I did say I've lost respect for her because of her bad takes. I don't have to respect her just because of who she happens to be married to. Anyway, I'm done. If you really want to we can continue this in DMs.

This and Billie getting called into the principles office at Warner and being scolded that he can do better

On this day 13 years ago (27 October 2011), Green Day played Webster Hall in NYC. More photos: 15 years ago (27 October 2009), Green Day played the LG Arena in Birmingham, England on the 21st Century Breakdown Tour. The official live video of Murder City is from this show. This was my first Green Day show. There are parts I still remember well, like going crazy when they started At the Library, but my clearest memory is the pure happiness and excitement I felt before, throughout and after the show. My recap is long, but 14 year-old me would be angry if I didn't share the whole thing, so here it is: "As the drunk bunny stumbled around to YMCA, it was sinking in that all the live videos I’d watched of a show that seemed so far out of my reach… I was about to experience that for myself. The bunny was gone. The Ramones’ 'Do You Remember Rock ‘n' Roll Radio?' played. Then the crackling static that introduced Song of the Century echoed through the arena. The crowd of 16,000 sang along in unison. My heart was pounding with the first chords of 21st Century Breakdown. Tré Cool ran onstage. The Big Three. Mike Dirnt. Then, finally, Billie Joe Armstrong. With flicks of his wrists he drew roars from the crowd. My voice was another scream in the tumultous applause. The crowd clapped along with Tré’s hits of the bass drum. With exploding pyros the show began. I was screaming my favourite lyrics, the words that gave me hope, back at my favourite band. Billie Joe commanded us all to stand up. We already were, clapping as if our lives depended on it. Green Day’s ferocious energy reached from the front row to the highest tiers. In my seat that looked down on them as specks, I felt as much like a part of the show, the mass of bodies obeying Billie’s every command, as I ever have on the floor since. It was a sense of belonging. A sense of acceptance. I felt understood. I knew that I, like the other 15,999 people in that room, mattered. The first fan was pulled onstage in Know Your Enemy. He staged dived to the pyros. Their sound was all enveloping, like a pounding warmth that attacked every cell. Everyone, on the floor, in the seats, was dancing. We repeated Billie’s ‘whoa-oh-oh-oh-oh!’ to East Jesus Nowhere religiously. In the bridge he announced he was going to ‘save’ someone from the crowd. He stubbornly made his way up into the seats, heading for a young girl called Catherine. There was a long exchange before he returned. Unsuccessful in recruiting Catherine, he called up his own 11 year-old son, Jakob, who obediently waved his arms before allowing himself to be ‘saved.’ The crowd chanted his name while Billie sang ‘the sirens of decay will infiltrate Jakob!’ and he fell to the floor. Once the song ended, he tried to make a quick escape. Billie announced ‘hey, where are you going, Jakob, you little shit? Come here for a second!’ and promptly planted a kiss on his forehead. ‘Alright, see you later. That’s Jakob – Danger – Armstrong! Danger is his middle name.’ Then Billie yelled ‘do you wanna start a fucking war?’ and the show resumed with Holiday. Watching Bullet in a Bible, it was hard to imagine how chanting ‘hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!’ back at Billie in the bridge really felt. It was like a reeling high. As we screamed along to ‘the static aaaaa-aaaaaa-age!’ I just couldn’t believe I was there. The sweltering heat and my hoarse voice were reminders it was real. Back then, we weren’t looking at setlists. My mum had no idea they were about to play one of her all-time favourite songs – Give Me Novacaine. I can still see the disbelief on her face. After all those years, working so hard she could barely wake up, she was free. Billie even announced that he was now one of us: 'We’re still alive, Birmingham! It’s been a long fucking time, goddamn I’m so fucking happy to be back in England, you have no idea. Goddammit I’m fucking moving here, fuck this shit, I’m fucking moving. Packing my bags, I’m gonna get on a big old fucking aeroplane, I’m gonna take all my shit across the pond, and I am officially fucking English as of now! I’m bringing it back home!’ Another fan came up for Are We The Waiting. With a disco ball reflecting skulls around the room, it was like being in the starry nights, city lights coming down over me. It was anthemic. That dirty town might as well have been burning down in my dreams, because nothing mattered but singing at the top of our lungs. The world outside was irrelevant. Billie darted around the stage to St. Jimmy. It was more ferocious, more passionate than I could have imagined watching videos. The crowd was deafening through Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Then they burst into Murder City, a performance that was recorded for GreenDay.com. I didn’t expect that and I was thrilled. I was even more thrilled when, two songs later, they played At the Library. People were confused, wondering if this was a new song. We were the only ones in our block screaming every word. Now I wasn’t just seeing Green Day. They even went and played At the Library and Murder City. When I Come Around’s old-school charm wasn’t lost in the dazzling show. Dancing to Brain Stew and Jaded, I didn’t feel I’d missed a thing by hearing them live 14 years after their release. Green Day were every bit the band they were in the 90s, except even more energetic. Everyone around us, young or old, was jumping. As Knowledge came to a close, Billie announced that a band of fans would finish the song. Basket Case and She followed. The hits were every bit as invigorating as the rarities. The extended King for a Day, with all its goofiness, floor-humping and cover snippets, was a fun and amusing break in the intense set. Could anything top At the Library? Probably not. Or so I thought, until King for a Day’s silliness faded to 21 Guns. I already loved this song. The music video was my all-time favourite. But I could never have imagined its rawness live. I was moved beyond words as I watched the fire rain down to ‘as a liar looking for forgiveness from a stone!’ and Billie’s added ‘whoa-ohs’ that seemed to come from the depths of his heart. Following that was emotional piano absent on the studio version. The band were silhouetted against the music video playing on the screen behind them. I might have been crying. I don’t remember. Billie described 21 Guns as not being written for two people, but 20,000. He was absolutely right. Then the show was uplifted again with Minority. Billie thanks every crowd countless times after the solo, but each word remained sincere. Blue and white confetti burst from the stage, sprinkling the crowd as the song closed. Finally, with American Idiot and Jesus of Suburbia, the show was coming to an end. The crowd, drenched in sweat from the pit to the seats as if at the end of a journey with the band, watched the inimate Last Night on Earth, still and in awe. Billie began with an acoustic guitar. We didn’t yet know that with lights flooding the darkened stage, the full band would return. An emotional Wake Me Up When September Ends followed. Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) ended the set. The band bowed and waved. It was over. We charged down the steps to scoop up confetti from the floor, filling two tissue packets before security chased us off. Green Day played hundreds of shows every tour. Yet this, my first show that to anyone else was just another city on a list of tour dates, was still so special. That – how every show is a precious memory to be treasured forever – is why I keep going to see Green Day." I didn't take many photos and they're all awful because I was so high up, but you can vaguely tell what's going on in this one. More (decent) photos: By the way, there was none of this manufactured drama about Billie saying he was going to move to England back then. People just understood that he was saying it to rile up the crowd. Edit: How could I forget Tre's tweet? 18 years ago, the music video for The Saints Are Coming was released. It includes some footage of both bands recording the song and performing it live. 29 years ago (27 October 1995), Green Day played the Forum in Montreal, Canada on the Insomniac Tour. "I was a moderately early support of Green Day and remember when I first heard Dookie (which I only discovered afterwards, wasn't their first album). I was the Music Director at CFLI, the Loyola Campus college radio station at Concordia University so I got a copy of an early release of the album. As a music director I had to listen to and evaluate all the music that came into the station and decide if it was something that we should shelve or put on heavy, medium or light rotation. About 10 seconds into Burnout I decided this was a heavy rotation album. Green Day clearly had found that alt-radio pop-punk balance that made Dookie exciting and energetic but also tuneful. When Green Day rolled into Montreal to support their next release, Insomniac, I thought it would be a lot of fun to see them live, even if it was at a major venue. I don’t remember who I went to the show with or much about it except that I enjoyed it and thought they were a pretty solid live band. Thanks to setlist.fm I was able to dig up the songs played at the show. Funny enough, years later, I still quite like Green Day. While they are inconsistent album to album, American Idiot is a classic that deserves all the praise that it received. My only criticism of Green Day is something that isn't their fault really, but I hate most of the pop-punk acts that they spawned. Thanks for a great show!" — Warren Wilansky 33 years ago (27 October 1991), Green Day played Störtebeker in Hamburg, Germany. They opened for So Much Hate.

Will the documentary be available anytime soon in you tube or other platforms?

Sounds like a pretty good friend to me

I mean you'd have to ask the band that. My guess is that Mike was just playing the melody of his sections on the bass and singing whatever vocal melodies he thought of and that's how he came up with his section of Homecoming (and the other sections that we can hear in the demo). And then Billie and Tré recorded their parts afterward. I think the band members pre-AI were having issues, specifically Mike and Tré were having issues with Billie. I believe they felt like he wasn't letting them have contribute to the music as much as him or something (if I'm remembering correctly). So I think Homecoming was sort of the result of that band conflict with the whole band getting their own sections to shine

My local alternative station is playing the crap out of this song. They even made their own radio edit where "Fuck it up on my rock and roll" in the first half the chorus is replaced by "Drop a bomb on my rock and roll" from the second half of the chorus.

She’s been my friend for a decade but only in the last 6 months has finally joined me in the Green Day (obsession)lifestyle 😂 I believe Friday is the rumour, heard a lot of ‘my mate who knows someone said this’ but I think just logically if they’re doing Italy on the Sunday, Friday Download gives them time to travel and rest.

Homecoming, Holiday, St. Jimmy, Give Me Novacaine, She's a Rebel, Are We the Waiting, All by Myself, Dominated Love Slave, Jesus of Suburbia, Extraordinary Girl, Letterbomb and We Are the Champions, in that order.

Had a dream that Kevin and Vicki were trying to take a selfie with their kid in the car, but Billie was in the backseat cuddling with a St Bernard and kept getting into the shot.

I've seen the new documentary somewhere...Not in a legal way, of course.

I like the idea that Billie Joe scrapped the album and came up with the "they were stolen" excuse, and then proceeded to come up with the final album just to spite Tom Whalley and Rob for calling the album mid. lol

Missed out on Amsterdam but got a ticket for the 2nd night in Vienna!

Well, yeah, since this pretty much seem to sum it up what actually happened, it's appears to be more of a little "nod" to the fans and the "stolen tapes" story to include that "As legend has it, the tapes mysteriously disappeared from the studio" bit that I saw someone else share a photo of. If they sticked to the story in the documentary, perhaps that was shot before it was decided what they'd write in the included book on matter? Robs explanation kind of puts things in a new light I mean, now we know it's more like Billie comes in with songs for the next album and to his dissapointment getting this rather underwhelming response, in opposite to thinking the material is weak himself and trying to get approval to delay it och go in a different direction. Perhaps the "stolen tapes" and "it was a blessing in disguise" thing came about as it felt like they "owned the situation" more that way. Who knows, just speculation. The only other theory I can think of is that it actually DID disappear after the meeting. But rather than stolen or disappearing without the band knowing, it was a delibirate - sort of "punky" - move by Billie because he got so pissed. Since the material got "dissed", he deleted it so the label would't have access to it, and only kept either demos, a CD, or a hard drive of C&V somewhere himself.

My friend is a bad influence and persuaded me to do both Vienna nights as well as the Athens date 💀 so see you all there 😂 there were no FOS tickets left for night one so I got the VIP ticket, first time buying one of those so I’m interested to see if it’s worth it! I realised I’m busy on the day they’re rumoured to be doing Download, then they announced the second Vienna date, so that convinced me!

From what I read on reddit, only Whatsername and Novacaine are the same. The rest are different. BOBD is in a different key, Radio Baghdad is at a faster tempo, and WMUWSE has the drum intro. I haven't heard any noticable differences with Whatsername and Novacaine.

I'm not really into this huge desire to talk about/get C&V but I will add what Rob Cavallo writes in the AI 20 booklet. "So, I got together with the band and they tole me they had written an entire album's worth of material. Wow! Awesome! But there was a problem. The guys were sounding, for whatever reason, just a little bit rusty. The music was good but was it really their best? I took it to my boss (the prescient Tom Whaley . He agreed with me. He said "let's meet with the band". A few days later in the Warner Bros executive conference room, Tom says to me and the guys " we appreciate what you guys have gone through and appreciate this new album. And while we are prepared to release it, we are not prepared to give it the big push (meaning marketing $) because we don't believe this is the best work you are capable of". BOOM! He was so brutally direct! I think I was sweating profusely. Billie looked directly at me and asked "is that what you think too?" "Yes I said, nodding my affirmation. Billie said "ok, let me think about this and process it, and we'll get back to you." Two days later, we were all back in the same conference room. Billie starts "So I';ve been thinking about what you guys said last time....and I think you're right. We want to make out best record and we want you guys to like it and to give it the big push. And we are willing to do what it takes to make that happen. The question is: Tom, are you willing to do it also?" Tom said "sure, what do you need?" The rest is about Rob going to work with them Monday to Friday in Berkeley.

Homecoming, holiday, st. Jimmy, give me novacaine, she's a rebel, are we the waiting (footage directly from BIAB), all by myself, dominated love slave, JOS, extraordinary girl, letterbomb and we are the champions. All footage apart from are we the waiting and we are the champions is from live at the warfield! I hope somebody rips the blu ray becuase it's a bit clunky to turn on the blu ray player all the time to watch it but it's AMAZING!!

Watched the doc! It’s very good though there is footage from BIAB and HLAHG in it, there is also great footage from the Warfield show, some recent chat with the boys in Otis (way too little imo) and some wild and hilarious stuff from the tour, very enjoyable, need to see it again.

What are the chances of Green Day performing at the EMAs in Manchester on 10.11? They are nominated for the Rock category. So they could theoretically also make up for the canceled club concert in London in 2023.

I believe that from 2000-2003, Green Day were writing and recording nearly nonstop in panic mode, thinking that the Green Day brand was finished. They had mined all they could within those confines and they were trying anything and everything to find the magic again. C&G, Money Money 2020, American Idiot and probably several more. All of it was in service of American Idiot. 1972 was similiar building block to get to Saviors. It's also possible this is how Green Day music all the time, not just when they've reached breaking point.

I love the live version of extraordinary girl or the demo version than the studio version so much.

I think your suggestion that Billie “disappeared” the tapes could well be spot on. It would be really tough for an artist to hear that a whole album they wrote was below par and well done to the whole band for having the guts to start again, for it turn out to be AI is nothing short of amazing. When Billie says in the doc that the tapes were stolen, he does look, fairly sheepish 😂

On the backside on the cover of 20 Years of American Idiot it says "Duration: 110 minutes", Heart Like a Hand Grenade is 97 minutes.

Thank you for all the background information. I really appreciate your posts and explanations because they make me consider things from a different perspective.

Nope nothing shipped, they said I'll get everything at once. I understand why they do it (time & money) but it's a bit frustrating.

I think the We Are the Champions at the end of the doc with the video clip show may be one of the cut songs from BIAB, he says “thank you England” 👀

This song is on repeat since this morning. I wanna cry.

omg I love Lowlife

Some new stuff and some repeated, bits of the close up of Billie talking about how deep he had gone, some bits in the studio with Billie talking about the message board and Rob talking about signing the band. Couple of little bits with Mike and Tre. There is a different, hilarious bit about poor Jason being passed out in bed, will not tell any more. I laughed out loud in quite a few places, it’s very enjoyable.

Lots of epic footage from The Warfield in the documentary, the full songs too! (including Homecoming)

My box set was just delivered, right after I got home from work 😎, I got the cd version but kind of think it would’ve been cooler to get the vinyls for this set. Mostly for the big bookelet, but this is still an awesome package!

I am shocked that the original film negatives for this music video were still usable.

The danger of celebrity endorsements isn’t really the endorsement itself, but rather that there are people that will vote for someone JUST BECAUSE their favorite artist did. Taylor Swift did potentially nothing wrong, but her power is immense (400,000 people signed up to vote in 2 hrs after her post). One could argue she planned her endorsement with Kamala since it came out right after the debate. It’s just scary that people are so obsessed with any artist and don’t look into things themselves. Side note: Every election makes people say “this one is different” and every election invokes this idea of “threat to our country if [candidate I don’t like] wins.” Thats just false rhetoric and has never been true. The president in the US just doesn’t have that kind of power, luckily.

I can't believe it's already been 1 year since the single was released, especially after 3 years of endless 1972 speculation leading up to this!!!!!!!!!

Was watching a recent episode of Nevermind the Buzzcocks and there was a whole section about Green Day. There was a question about Mike shitting onto Juliette Binoche's balcony, a question about Tre having one testicle, Greg made a joke about Billie looking young and Courtney Love kept going on about how amazing Billie is for doing 2-3 hour shows at his age and barely breaking a sweat lol

Just wanted to express my gratitude for the entire Green Day Community for keeping me entertained and occupied, especially thoughout this eventful year for our boys. You’re all the best and I appreciate your love for the band I love. I gave up all other social media just over a year ago due to personal reasons, so you’ve all been a help in that journey as well.

I‘ve read a lot of interviews in the last weeks, and I think in one of them Billie said he loved making albums. So I think they will continue making records, if just for the fun of it.

Similar to the post above, I also have thought that if Saviors was released earlier, potentially after 21cb, this album would have received so much more mainstream attention. I remember thinking the album would spike the bands popularity due to the generally positive reviews, but I agree that rock will not ever get the same attention that it did in the early 2000s. It makes me think forward to future releases. Will Green Day continue making albums at the frequency they have in the last few decades? Will they move to sporadic single/EP releases? It’s hard to say, but what I know is that since I became a fan in 2010, this has been my favorite album BY FAR, and I’m so happy I got to experience this release cycle.

Can anyone with some inside knowledge say what the former security guards Eddy and Arturo are doing these days and if they are okay?

Green Day referred to in this tweet