Download gets a big “Heeeeeey oooooh” as Green Day finally make their stunning, powerful, feisty headlining debut.
It’s perhaps not unreasonable to ask why it’s only now that Green Day are headlining Download for the first time. Decades of success, an illustrious arsenal of era-defining hits, multiple albums considered staples of a rock fan’s coming-of-age years – they reach every cross-section of this audience, even where teenagers and their parents can watch them together. Still, after their best album in years in the form of last year’s Saviors, and a foul-smelling political climate that’s made American Idiot feel eerily more timeless, now’s as good a time as any.
After a rather long, multi-part introduction that features the usual a person in a bunny costume clowning around to Blitzkrieg Bop before being accosted by fake security, the Oakland trio are striking with purpose. Opening their set with the dynamite trio of American Idiot, Holiday and Know Your Enemy doesn’t just feel like a flexing of their muscles, but very deliberate, especially when Billie Joe Armstrong, unsurprisingly, talks politics two songs in. “We are slipping into fascism. Donald Trump and his administration are a fascist government,” he warns. “It is up to us to fight back.” Aside from resurrecting an old “you fat bastard” chant to apply to Trump – which is yelled back with notable vehemence from the crowd – the world outside the confines of Donington Park doesn’t overwhelm the show. Green Day are here for fun.
It's an animated, all-killer set, where it’s rare for any time to go by without Billie Joe getting a “HEEEEEEEEEEY-OOOOOOOOOOH!” call and response going with the crowd. The hits everyone has committed to memory, from Basket Case, to Boulevard Of Broken Dreams, fit seamlessly with newer cuts Dilemma and One Eyed Bastard. There’s some cheeky curveballs, from rare gem J.A.R. to a surprise dusting off of the underrated title-track from 2016’s Revolution Radio. More than once, there’s something that raises a chuckle, from the ‘BAD YEAR’ blimp that flies above the stage to bassist Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool making themselves useful for Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life) by throwing rose petals over Billie. The real moment of the set to treasure, however, is a complete accident. Wake Me Up When September Ends, as profound and soul-stirring as it always is, gains another dimension when Billie sings, ‘Here comes the rain again,’ and it begins to drizzle. Something about it feels perfect.
Towards the show’s conclusion, Billie mentions that this is the last time Green Day will play in England for a while as the Saviors touring cycle wraps up. They’ve signed off, if that’s the case, on a masterful note. “England, you are in my heart forever,” he says. “You will never get rid of me.” Good.
