In Albany and the two MSGs shows, Green Day entered the stage from backstage. In each of these shows, a recorded version of the first two parts or movements of 21st Century Breakdown, “Song of the Century” through to the title song’s course and repetitive “thuummpp, thuummpp” sound that echoes massively from the recording of Jason Freese’s piano. From there it goes live with Tré kicking in the drums, followed closely by Mike, Jason White, live Jason, and Billie and they are off to the races. (I’m not sure if Jeff plays an instrument here but he kicks in vocals.)

At San Antonio, Green Day entered the stage from the back of the AT&T Stadium.

It took them a while to walk from the back of the stadium around the aisle between the first row of seats and the stadium floor, to the front due to all of the high-fives and saying hi and shit like that (ha, “yo mike, what up!? “yo, man, doing a show!”) and by the time they arrived on stage to where my cohorts and I were at the very front of the barrier, the anticipation was palpable.

“21st Century Breakdown” sounded powerful and self-assured at all my shows, particularly for a slightly difficult and grandiose song with lots of beat and mood changes.

At the recent concert in San Jose, the stop closest to where Green Day hails in Northern California, this opening medley, as viewed below, sounds even more rich and deep and from the heart of a band happy to be back home to the whooping cheers of a hometown crowd.

Oh, and this time, they came up through the pit in the middle of the stadium floor. That takes balls! It’s dramatic the reaction that the crowd has to the band as they march through the crowd. Lucky San Jose!

“Song of the Century” and “21st Century Breakdown,”

Green Day, San Jose, CA, August 18, 2009

Of course, I was not at this San Jose show but from what I’ve seen and heard, it was the “Hartford of the West Coast,” if you will, only ten times more so; (sorry, San Jose AND Sacramento but L.A. took all kicked of your asses and took the the title, even, from reports, surpassing Hartford!). Also, the first highlight of San Jose is “Mother Mary,” which was talked about in an earlier posting.
*Found by way of Youtube.