ROCK AM RING REVIEW: Green Day Close Out Day 1 In Style

The first day of Rock Am Ring this year was closed out on the main stage by the iconic Green Day. More than 30 years of experience and talent translates to an all-out, epic performance of 1h and 40 minutes, filled with songs from their extensive discography that everyone knows and loves.

In front of what must’ve been about 70.000 people, Green Day kicked things off with arguably the best-known song of theirs: American Idiot. When you attend a Green Day show, you don’t just get to hear the songs live, you get arguably one of the best shows that rock music has to offer. Merely two and a half songs in, Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong already invited a fan up on stage to perform Know Your Enemy with the band. The fan that was called up on stage was no doubt a huge Green Day fan, as he was rockin’ their merch and was beyond ecstatic to be on stage. His energy was unmatched and it was an absolute treat to witness the chemistry between him and the band.

Another highlight of the show occurred literally one song later when Green Day played the iconic Boulevard Of Broken Dreams. The band requested the audience to take out the lights on their phones, which was happily obliged by the legions of fans. The result? Stunning. Check out a little video from the occurrence in the tweet below!

Green Day – Boulevard of Broken Dreams at Rock Am Ring. What a sight ❤️ pic.twitter.com/L4Z6CjgIbl

— Strife Magazine (@StrifeMagazine) June 3, 2022

Green Day continued with a trip down memory lane, playing some older songs such as Longview and Welcome To Paradise, and Hitchin’ A Ride, which was met jubilantly by the crowd, but not with as much enthusiasm as some of the bigger hits did, but that makes sense with a crowd of around 70.000. Besides the many sing-alongs and regular crowd interaction in-between songs, Billie Joe Armstrong invited another fan on stage about halfway through the set during the performance of Knowledge (Operation Ivy cover) to play the guitar alongside the band. The band have been doing this for several tours now, and it’s still a treat to watch a star-struck fan being able to play with the band without missing up.

Around the end of the set, some more heavyweights entered the set, such as Basket Case, Wake Me Up When September Ends, and the lengthy and iconic Jesus of Suburbia. Traditionally, the set was closed out by Billie Joe Armstrong playing the acoustic Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life). Around the closing of the last song, confetti was sprayed into the audience and fireworks lit up the sky for a couple of minutes, officially marking the ending of an incredible day with amazing performances and epic bands. Unfortunately, Green Day did not allow too many photographers, but we did manage to capture the essence of the performance from the balcony (which was allowed, fortunately). Check out the pyro-filled photos below, courtesy of Eva van den Bosch.

Glenn van den Bosch

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