One of the interesting things about having teenagers is sharing your music with them and seeing how it goes; the reverse is true as well.

My younger daughter really likes stuff with some progressive elements to it that I play for her (Rush, Steven Wilson, Steve Hackett / Genesis), though she is less interested in bluesy stuff. Bummer!! As for her tastes, she tends to like a mixed bag that I have come to appreciate to a certain extent: Fallout Boy, My Chemical Romance, Panic at the Disco, 21 Pilots, and Green Day. We saw Fallout Boy a while back, and they were impressive; the singer could really sing live, and they put on a great show.

I've come to like some Green Day albums; "American Idiot" and "21st Century Breakdown" have elements that hearken back to early Who (they even covered "A Quick One") and Ziggy-era Bowie. Ballsy guitar anthems, catchy pop hooks, some clever nods to musical theater tropes. So when I heard these guys were coming around, I got us tickets.

The last time I was at a big arena was to see Rush maybe 6 or 7 years ago for Clockwork Angels. Otherwise I've been spoiled by theaters. The Barclays Center feels a lot like MSG to me, and we were in nosebleeds, and these were $100 tickets on StubHub. Moral of the story: join the fan club for pre-sale.
I almost had vertigo being up so high. Jesus.

Opening band Against Me made me think of Slade. Yes, they were rebellious and angsty and yadda yadda yadda, but basically, they were playing anthemic stompers with strong screechy vocals. It was like 1980s arena hard rock all over again, really.

Much of this was surprisingly true of Green Day. They played a serious high energy set, very entertaining, a solid 2 1/2 hours, skillful singing and playing, but what really struck me was how hard they worked the crowd. I'm more used to (and more comfortable with, I guess) bands and artists that just play without seemingly worrying too much about the crowd. I'm used to jammers who nod to the crowd every so often, but otherwise just play, play, play. All I need is the occasional "Y'all a great bunch" and I'm good.

I've never seen Bruce Springsteen, but Green Day had an approach I associate with Bruce: loads of sing-alongs, frequent mini-soliloquies about the power of music, pulling people onstage to sing, throwing t-shirts to the crowd, all of that kind of thing. Back when I used to see hair metal bands in the 1980s, there was a lot of that. David Lee Roth was one to constantly stop a song halfway through to hail the crowd or get them to sing the next line, or pit this side of the arena in a shouting contest against that side of the arena. There was loads of that kind of thing last night, and it really worked! People ate it up!

Once I got used to it, it was a joy to behold. Again, in a Springsteen vein, Billie Joe Armstrong made very clear to the crowd that this show was a chance to get together, scream, feel part of a community of like-minded types, like a rock'n'roll Baptist mass. It was fun. It was genuinely thrilling to see them pull people out of the audience to sing or to play guitar, and then watch those people stage dive! Jeez. They did a medley that included "Shout!" and that chestnut worked perfectly; the whole "A little bit louder now" schtick was really the motif of the while night.

But the music was good too, and even in the nosebleeds, I enjoyed hearing them pull off the vocals, the tight stop-and-start of some of the early punkier songs, and the drummer was really powerful.

Oddly, their second guitarist did an amazing sax solo. Go figure. How did that get in there?!

I'm not sure if I would see them again without my daughter - I'd rather see Wilco or TTB - but it was a very fun night out, and I'm glad I went. Impressive. Not everyone can keep a massive crowd on their feet and singing along for 150 minutes.