Green Day, Perth 2017 / Photo: Stuart Millen

5 Reasons Why Green Day’s Aussie Tour Will Be Their Best Ever, According To Bassist Mike Dirnt

Green Day are comin’ around, with the Aussie leg of their new album tour having kicked-off in Perth last night.

The veteran punk trio are hitting our shores for seven gargantuan arena dates in a two-week sweep of the continent, and bassist Mike Dirnt reckons we’re gonna have the ~time of our lives~.

He’s spruiking these new shows as a boulevard of fulfilled dreams for Green Day fans of all ages, and he’s slapped us with a list of five very convincing reasons why.

PHOTOS: Green Day – Perth Arena, Perth 30/04/17 / Photos: Stuart Millen

1. The setlist

“This tour is amazing, it’s probably our favourite tour we’ve ever done. The stage look, the set list, the fact that we’re touring – not to toot my own horn – but I think we’re touring a really great record, people are loving it. But we’re also playing from all across our career, so we’re playing songs off of Dookie and American Idiot and Revolution Radio and even some deeper cuts from the Lookout [Records] years. Which is fun! It’s like ‘A Night With Green Day’. There’s a lot of solidarity and fun in the room. 

It’s weird, every time we go out on tour [our fans] get younger AND older [laughs] you know? It’s pretty crazy ’cause you have people that were teenagers during the Lookout years – like me – and they’re my age now. And then you have people, say, a kid who was maybe 18-years-old when we put out Dookie… he’s 38 now! Or even older, we won’t do the exact math right now… And then American Idiot – if you were 18 when that came out, you’re pushing 30 [laughs]. But you know, we feel great. We’ve got lots of energy and we’re playing a long time on stage and it’s just a great show. Over the years we’ve curated this, it’s like the best of everything we’ve ever done.”

2. The stage production

“As powerful as it is with the lights and the backdrops and everything else, it’s a very striking set. And we completely re-did the entire stage setup from anything we’ve ever done. It’s actually my favourite one we’ve ever done. It’s really classic-looking, and CLASSY looking. It’s kinda weird ’cause I never think of myself and the word “classy” in the same sentence [laughs] but it’s pretty cool. It’s able to go from really intimate to a really vibrant, explosive big rock show at the same time. It’s something to be seen, people keep commenting to us, like, “man, your stage setup looks incredible”. And it’s not just LED screens with a bunch of video running at people, this is a night where you actually don’t have to stare at a screen to have a great night.”

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3. The possibility of off-stage surprises

“If we wanna play a small club, we just go do it. We literally just go jump up and call a place and book it and then announce it ten seconds later and then an hour later it’s full… When we were in Australia last time, we were in Sydney, and there was a band playing and we [asked] if we could borrow their equipment — or just borrow their backline gear — and just jumped in on their gig and they were very gracious about it and let us do it. And we just jumped up and played for like an hour or so and it really just kinda got the buzz out, you know, and got us primed for the bigger shows.

Anything goes with this band. It really does, it’s all just a matter of what day of the week and what crazy idea we have going… But the thing is when we wanna mix it up, we do. Because there’s no smoke and mirrors to what we do, we grab our instruments and we can jump onstage anywhere.”

Gallery: Green Day Surprise Sydney Show 2014 / Photos: Ashley Mar

4. The mad pyro

“Well, no smoke and mirrors, but a lot of fire.

You’ll feel the heat, when you come see us play live, people are like ‘how are you not burning to death onstage?’ You just have to trust that you’re actually not burning. It’s pretty cool to see, to say the least.”

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5. Not to mention their hot form

“I will say this: we’re probably more prepared for the big stage right now then we’ve ever been.

You know, we don’t like to go into anything cold. Before we started this tour, we had rehearsals for a month or a month and a half, then we did a small club tour, then we did some live performances for promo and then we did a European tour of arenas and now we’ve done a US tour of arenas. We’re pretty dialled at this point [laughs].

This show is a really really entertaining show. It’s a rock show, it’s a punk show, it’s just a good energy show. And it’s a night for everybody to just have a good time and share a human experience for a couple of hours.”

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Green Day 2017 ‘Revolution Radio Tour’ Dates

Supported by The Interrupters

All shows are on sale now, unless sold out

Sunday, 30th April 2017

Perth Arena, Perth

Tickets: Ticketek

Wednesday, 3rd May 2017

Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide

Tickets: Ticketek

Friday, 5th May 2017SOLD OUT

Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

Tickets: Ticketek

Saturday, 6th May 2017NEW SHOW

Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne

Tickets: Ticketek

Monday, 8th May 2017

Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane

Tickets: Ticketek

Wednesday, 10th May 2017SOLD OUT

Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

Tickets: Ticketek

Thursday, 11th May 2017NEW SHOW

Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

Tickets: Ticketek

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