Green Day ends North American tour with Coldplay expletives

LOS ANGELES - Green Day may be 22 years old but that doesn’t mean the band has grown up. And just because they have eight studio albums, three Grammy Awards and a handful of number one hits doesn’t mean they follow the rules, either. “Las Vegas! Get off your (expletive expletive)!” Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong instructed just moments after he stepped onto the stage on Friday. “Stand up! Stand up!”“ This is not a (expletive) slot machine, this is a (expletive) Green Day show!” he yelled.

Some parents can be forgiven their quizzical expressions. Especially when Armstrong's adjective of choice frequently is a variation on the F-bomb, and he occasionally executes boyish exposures of flesh. He also chugged down a beer someone in the crowd gave him.

Tuesday's all-in performance at the Forum in Los Angeles was a mandate for the crowd to remember this show, the last of a seven-week North American jaunt. And memorable it was. And the crowd lapped it up, acquiescing to Armstrong's every demand. He told stories and often made a point of inciting communal pride. "This is a fucking rock 'n' roll show, not a tea party," he admonished. "You listen to Coldplay on your own fucking time!"

It has been 15 years since the group’s mainstream break-out album, “Dookie,” hit record stores (remember how people still went to stores to buy records – OK, CDs – 15 years ago?) and 17 years since they first gained early attention with “Kerplunk.”

This means what was a young fan base of 15- to 25-year-old music fans in the ’90s has grown up considerably since then – or aged, at least – and is now in the 30- to 45-year-old range. This, of course, helps explain the noted abundance of 5- to 10-year-old kids in the audience on Friday whose parents seemed slightly more interested in the music than they did.

Read a typical Green Day f***ing review here at the Las Vegas Sun online. Meanwhile, back to Coldplay...

More new pictures of Coldplay at Hannover Stadium, Hannover, Germany (25th August 2009):