When Green Day announced the Reading/Leeds Festival “warm-up” show that they would play at Brixton Academy a little over a week before the event, the relatively unique build up to these ‘last minute’ theatre/club style shows kicked off in earnest. The short notice announcement sent fans into a combination of excitement, panic and delirium as we scrambled for tickets, while turning any plans upside down to make sure of our attendance.

[pic=Billie Joe at the Brixton Arena. Photo by Kalpesh Patel]082213_london_brixton_dookie.jpg[/pic]Green Day shows in the UK, and particularly London, tend to grab the attention of the Green Day world on a grand scale. Having played some of their biggest shows here over the last decade (Milton Keynes/Wembley Stadium/The Emirates), the band’s appearances here take on the mantle of a major event. The fact that this particular show coincided with the Birthday of the London born legend Joe Strummer, meant the show took on an extra significance.

Arriving at the venue about an hour before doors opened, I was pretty amazed to find that the queue outside the venue wrapped the entire way around the block where Brixton Academy is situated. Thousands of fans eager to get in and secure the best spots possible, a fair few even camping out over night, a brave effort in one of London’s more precarious areas!

I made my way into the venue around half way through Frank Turner’s (support act) set, with the venue already packed to the rafters and the air of anticipation already palpable. The downward sloping floor in the venue means that almost every position provides an excellent vantage point. In Green Day’s tradition to pay homage to influential bands of yesteryear, the intro music of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody and then The Ramones’ Blitzkrieg Bop provided the perfect tonic to get the crowd pumped up for Green Day’s imminent entrance to the stage.

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