What was it that made the Green Day concert the fist pumping, heart stopping event of the summer? It could it have been anything between the ring leader of the show Billie Joe Armstrong and  the deafening sound of music mixed with the shouts of the crowd and the explosion of fireworks.

There was never a dull moment with Armstrong onstage to use his magic as an entertainer to rally up the crowd throughout the show. The concert took place August 26^th at the Super pages center in Dallas.

Impatience was well seen on the faces of the fans in the pit as they waited for the set crew to ready the stage for Green Day to play. The band seemed to have a thing for dramatics for when the band finally burst out from the wings it was closer to dark and they were met by screaming fans and an abundance of fire crackers and strobe lights flashing.

Talk about a dramatic entrance, the strobes lights and fire crackers were a consistent part of the concert while Green Day played to illuminate the stage and make the songs all the more dramatic for the fans. Thanks to the giant screens set up on either side of the stage even the fans with lawn tickets could see Green Day up close and in action.

The artists of Green Day (Armstrong as guitarist and singer, Mike Dirnt as bass guitarist, and Tre’ Cool as the drummer) never seemed to lose their excitement or enthusiasm even though they played 30 plus of their songs. They started off by playing songs from their albums 21^st Century Breakdown and American Idiot to get the crowd going then began playing some of their classic songs such as “St. Jimmy”, “East Jesus of Nowhere”,  “Know Your Enemy” and “Holiday”.

The excitement kept going when the band brought up fans to the stage to sing songs including “2000 Light Years Away” where 50 younger fans were called up. Green Day also played some of its older but classic songs such as “Geek Stink Breath”, “Hitchin a Ride” and “When I Come Around”. Armstrong also made it a point to scare parents in the audience by the language he used and his gestures.

However Green Day also found a way to appeal to the older generation by playing songs such as the Isley Brother’s “Shout”, Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” and the Rolling Stone’s “Satisfaction”. By the time these songs were played it was getting late and their closing songs where some of their best ever such as “Minority”, “American Idiot”, “Jesus of Suburbia”, and “(Good Riddance) Time of your Life”.

But of course Green Day couldn’t have a normal exit, with a such a love of dramatics it had lights flashing, fire crackers going off and cannons firing off confetti into the pit as they played its final songs until both Cool and Dirnt had walked off the stage leaving Armstrong playing “The Time of Your Life” alone on his guitar. Deep emotion was seen in his face as it turned into “Wake Me up When September Ends”, a song about his father’s death, when suddenly his band members reappeared finishing the song with a boom, quite literally as the firecrackers all went off and the concert was over.

Before Green Day even showed up on stage the excitement was flowing through the air especially in the pit area where all the die-hard fans clustered together getting as close to the stage as they could. When opening act AFI came on stage it were met by the cheers of the crowd and immediately burst into one of their songs. With little hesitation the fans cheered and started singing along with lead singer Davey Havok.

Havok had recently changed his appearance for this concert and slightly resembled John Travolta from Grease with his gelled up hair, grubby black clothes and memorable dance moves throughout the concert. After AFI played for an hour it signed off with its well known song “Miss Murder” to get the  crowd  wound up and ready for the main act (Green Day) to come on out.

It was a memorable night for all who was at the concert no matter where they sat they could all enjoy the entertainment of Armstrong, Cool and Dirnt as they played their hearts out.