Green Day, Glasgow review - 'catchy tunes, sly humour and a bit of politics'

Green Day’s Saviors Tour may be named for their latest album, but the majority of this Glasgow show was surrendered to anniversary renditions of their two most enduring albums, writes Fiona Shepherd

Green Day, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow ****

The last time Green Day were due to play this park, the gig was cancelled on the day because of safety fears due to adverse weather. On this occasion, when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang the opening line of Travis’s Why Does It Always Rain On Me? he was no weather prophet – the outlook was dry, even slightly sunny and, from a musical perspective at least, rather glorious.

Opening number The American Dream Is Killing Me summed up the band's appeal – an insanely catchy tune, delivered at piledriving pace, with rousing spirit, sly humour and a bit of politics. The Saviors Tour is named for their latest album but the vast majority of the set was surrendered to anniversary renditions of their two most enduring albums.

Green Day, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow PIC: Calum Buchan

The adolescent rush of their now 30-year-old third album Dookie was attacked headlong, its sheer verve unabated. The funky punky bassline of Longview provided a change of dynamics, while the relative pop maturity of When I Come Around was an early indicator of their anthemic abilities. “Thirty years goes by just like that,” noted Armstrong wistfully, while claiming that hit single Basket Case had been written in Glasgow.

The opportunity for fan participation is such a part of their live schtick that audience members advertise their services via banners. This brazen petition was enough to win one lad a guest guitarist spot on Dilemma, while another fan belted a few lines from Know Your Enemy, another stomping singalong rooted in Seventies power pop.

Next, a reprise of their masterpiece-turned-stage musical phenomenon American Idiot, a Gen X Tommy from its raucous title track via the doo-wop-influenced Jesus of Suburbia to modern standard Boulevard of Broken Dreams, fist-pumping Are We the Waiting and plaintive Wake Me Up When September Ends, leaving just enough time for a solo acoustic encore of Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) to send the crowd home with a tenacious earworm.