GREEN DAY - AWESOME AS F*** - GUEST BLOG BY KYLE

Over the summer, I went with my cousin's son Kyle (age 14!) to see Green Day on their 21st Century Breakdown tour, and after the show, we reviewed the concert together via IM. I thought he did such a good job, I wanted to let him review their new live album, Awesome As F***, on his own. I think he did a great job, and I bet you'll agree. Without further adieu:


Green Day is back at it again, releasing their second live album, Awesome as ****. To describe it in one word, it is AWESOME. Featuring songs from 21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot, and even featuring songs from the '90s, such as "Going to Pasalacqua, "which is off Green Day’s first album, 1039/Smoothed Out Slappy Hours, and "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?," which, as Billie Joe says in the recording, “This is my favorite song from Kerplunk, by the way.” The CD also includes other classics such as "When I Come Around," "J.A.R. (Jason Andrew Relva)," "Geek Stink Breath," "Burnout" and "She." The CD also includes an unreleased song, "Cigarettes and Valentines," which was supposed to be off the album of the same name that would have been released instead of American Idiot, except the recordings for the album were stolen from the studio. Instead of rerecording the album, Green Day recorded and released American Idiot (maybe they are re-recording "Cigarettes and Valentines," who knows?). Each song on the album was recorded from different concerts all around the United States and the world.

The DVD that comes with the album is the recording of the band’s concert in Japan. The songs included in the DVD are "21st Century Breakdown," "Know Your Enemy," "East Jesus Nowhere," "Holiday," "Static Age," "¡Viva la Gloria!," "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," "Burnout," "Geek Stink Breath," "Welcome to Paradise," "When I Come Around," "My Generation," "She," "21 Guns," "American Eulogy," "Jesus of Suburbia," "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and "Cigarettes and Valentines." The DVD starts off with the band walking through the halls of the stage flashing signs at the camera while the credits introduce the band members. The show then begins with a bang and "21st Century Breakdown." The DVD is just as awesome if not more than the CD.

In comparison to Bullet in a Bible, which was a live album recorded on the American Idiot tour, Awesome as **** is an overall better album. This has to do with the limited song choice in Bullet in a Bible (21st Century Breakdown wasn’t released yet) and Green Day being livelier in a way. In the new album, new effects were used (for example, in Holiday, there are gunshot sounds when Billie Joe yells, “Bang! Bang! Goes the broken glass and, bombs away is your punishment!”) on the stage to make it more exciting. This of course, doesn’t mean Bullet in a Bible is a bad album by any means, it is a really good album, but Awesome as **** goes that extra mile, that extra degree from 211, where water is just hot, to 212, where water boils.

I would definitely recommend the new live album for any Green Day fan, as it is a giant rollercoaster of fun and excitement, as Green Day takes you to one of the greatest tours they have ever done.