Before I even arrive at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, I’m extremely excited because the conditions for an open-air concert couldn’t be better. It’s about 30°C, I’ve got an ice cream in my hand and I’ve already bought my beer tokens and I can’t wait to get inside. We get into the venue at about 1pm and find out that the music doesn’t actually start until about 5pm so there’s a long wait but it’s such a big venue with so much to see and such good weather that no one seems to mind. They could have maybe done with one more support band to get things kicking off a little bit earlier but people were enjoying the weather anyway.
Hard-Fi are the first band on today and they are the replacement for Simple Plan who pulled out about a month ago. They are the only UK band on the bill today and they happen to be the only band on the bill that I’ve never heard of. They are kind of like Sex Pistols meets The Streets but with terrible consequences. They seem to be weird choice as replacement for Simple plan and when their lead singer says that they were chosen specifically by Billie Joe, I just thought to myself ‘Why?’. There are so many bands in the UK would have been better suited to this bill but instead I got to watch Hard-Fi for the first and hopefully the last time.
Taking Back Sunday were the next band on and didn’t impress me at first, they looked a far cry from the TBS I saw in January which was the best gig I’ve been to far this year. It took them a couple of songs to get into the set but when they did they were really fun to watch. Singer Adam Lazarra was strutting around the stage like a modern day Mick Jagger and swinging his microphone around as usual although he actually managed to avoid hitting himself in the head this time. The best songs of their set were ‘Cute Without The E’ and a new song which I think was called ‘What It Is To Be A Ghost’ which sounded amazing. All in all it was a really enjoyable set by a great band.
Jimmy Eat World are the final support band and they were amazing. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen them but (unlike Hard-Fi) it definitely won’t be the last. Both the new and the old songs sounded great but my personal favourite from their set was ‘Sweetness’ which sounded awesome live. I hope it won’t be too long before JEW come back to the UK because I definitely plan on going and seeing them at one of their own shows next time they come over.
Finally 8 hours after we arrived at the venue, its time for the band that most people came here today to see. Green Day are one of the biggest bands in the world right now and there’s a lot of anticipation in air and Green Day didn’t step a foot wrong. From the moment they came the whole show was amazing, this wasn’t just your usual kind of show, this was a full on production. There were fireworks, pyrotechnics, a helicopter flying overhead filming the whole show (apparently for a DVD), it really was a proper event. They started of playing a lot of the songs from their new album ‘American Idiot’ and then started playing some older stuff. My favourites from their two hour set were ‘Holiday’, ‘Brain Stew’ and ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’ at the end, which is always the perfect ending to an immaculate Green Day set. The fireworks went off at the end of the set to signal the end and it was just another edition which really made this a truly special experience.
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