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Green Day, a punk rock band that’s been around since the late 80’s, rocked the house with their music, their amazing stage presence and a show that blew the doors of the United Center off on Monday, July 13, 2009. I have never seen a band put on such an energetic and powerful show for so long. After a 2 hour performance, Green Day reclaimed the stage to continue jamming for a 40 minute encore. Thanks to RazorGator, I was able to get some Green Day tickets for the concert at United Center. It was a very fun night for everyone.

United Center Information
United Center
1901 West Madison Street
Chicago, Illinois 60612
(312) 455-4500

United Center is located at 1901 W. Madison Street and is on the West side of Chicago. The “Madhouse on Madison II” is most popularly known as the home of the Bulls and Blackhawks, but it’s also a great place for a watching a concert. Some of the bands who’ve rocked the United Center over the last several years have been Nickelback, U2, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Coldplay and most recently punk band Green Day was in the “House that Jordan Built”.

United Center (which boasts United Airlines as its namesake and a financial supporter) opened its doors in April of 1994. It replaced the Chicago Stadium (the “Madhouse on Madison I”) which was demolished after the United Center’s opening.

The arena seats between 20,500 to 23, 500, depending on the event taking place. It’s hosted the Bull’s championship games in 1996, 1997 and 1998, and the arena ceiling is adorned with Bulls championship banners. The United Center is also featured In Coldplay’s video “Lost” and U2’s 2005 concert video Vertigo.

One of the city’s most popular tourist attractions is the Michael Jordan statue which adorns the main gates of the United Center. Jordan, the 5 time NBA MVP who played for the Bulls and led them to 6 championship wins, was also known as “Air Jordan” because of his ability to leap and jump, which is depicted in the statue.

The statue itself measures 12 feet tall (17 feet from top to bottom) and weighs 2,000 pounds. It was built by husband and wife sculptors Omri and Julie Rotblatt-Amrany. The bronze statue of the retired Bulls player was unveiled in 1994 after being created in secrecy over a 4 month period.

Getting to United Center & Parking
The United Center is located in the Near West side of the Windy City, Chicago. Though the arena sits on 46 acres of land, just west of infamous Chicago Loop, there isn’t much other entertainment or hotspots nearby. Block after block surrounding the area hosts parking lots. But just a short train ride or bus line, a person can find themselves in the more popular east side of Chicago to take in Navy Pier, the Miracle Mile, Water Tower, the many museums and other popular tourist attractions.

Taking the 20 Bus west will take you to the Center from the east side of the city, as will the Orange, Green, Purple and Brown lines to Madison via train. Driving is easy: the United Center is one mile west of Chicago’s Loop and I-90/94 Kennedy Expressway, and four blocks North of I-290 Eisenhower Expressway at Damen Ave. (Exit 28A).

Chicago Restaurants
Though we didn’t have time to head to the east side of the city, we were lucky enough to have dinner at a legendry Chicago eatery, the Billy Goat, named after a goat fell off a truck and wandered into the diner. Made even more famous through Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd Saturday Night Skit (where they knew the restaurant from their Second City days) where a short order called out “Cheezborgor, cheezborgor, cheezborger. No Pepsi- Coke!”

Just like real life owner, Greek Immigrant William “Billy Goat” Sianis who bought it with a bad check in the amount of $205, which was, of course, later repaid during their first weekend in business.

The first location was across from the now United Center and was full of, mainly, sports fans. Later, the location moved and there are several Billy Goat’s across town. The one near the old location is called the Billy Goat Tavern at 1535 Madison Ave, just blocks east of the United Center.

Ordering means bellying up to the counter and hollering your order out loud, and fast. No fries- just chips. Single, double or triple burgers only. And if you don’t order- the cook will order FOR you! It’s a fun part of Chicago’s history.

The diner has a full bar and a great juke box. Find a table and have a seat yourself and watch for those famous folks to visit. Mike Royko, infamous Chicago newspaper columnist, often penned his column from the Billy Goat and wrote about the joint, adding to its popularity around the city.

The Band, the Concert and the Music
After waiting about 40 minutes once we got in our seats, Green Day’s opening band, The Bravery, played a 30 minute set. They weren’t very well received by the Green Day audience and while they weren’t booed off the stage, they were certainly not worth watching. The guitarist for the Bravery had some pretty nice solos and the music was all good but what seemed to kill them with the audience was their singer.

Imagine Bono from U2 performing in “Emo” style. They were billed as sort of a combo of The Cure meets The Killers; I suppose they did their job as opening band because everyone around was now mega pumped to see Green Day. Green Day is now a popular enough band and have paid their music dues that they wouldn’t need an opening act, but props to them for continuing to support up and comers like The Bravery.

The New York City based rock group consists of Sam Endicott on lead vocals and guitar; Michael Zakarin on lead guitar and back-up vocals; John Conway on keyboards; Mike Hindert on bass guitar; and, Anthony Burulcich on drums.

When Green Day came on stage the crowd gave them all of their love. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong took control and had the audience eating out of his hand during their opening song from the new album sharing its title “21st Century Breakdown” and led the band into singing one after another of their hits from their new album 21st Century Breakdown as well as hits from previous albums: American Idiot, Dookie, Nimrod, Warning and Insomniac.

Billie Joe, front man, lead singer and band’s major hottie, led the audience through chants and sing-a-alongs. The band has a knack for theatrics because anytime Armstrong felt like it he would get an audience member on stage to become part of the all star performance.

Gimmicks included preacher Armstrong saving and then “killing” a 10 year old fan during “East Jesus Nowhere”, giving another fan a squirt gun to soak the audience, coating the floor audience with toilet paper, having 2 fans participate in singing hit “Long View”, and even having a 10 year old boy play lead guitar on “Jesus of Suburbia”.

Watching that kid play Armstrong’s guitar, after he spent 15 minutes finding someone in the audience who knew what key it was in, was awe inspiring. That kid jamming on a 9 minute plus song, playing Armstrong’s guitar and singing along with the band was one of the highlights of the concert experience. Green Day makes a connection with the audience that most bands don’t do which takes their concerts to the next level.

Not only do fans get to participate, there was the entire audience “wave” started by Billie Joe, but the sing-alongs on popular hits, especially “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” where the 3 man band was serenaded by the audience.

During an encore performance of “Shout”, Billie Joe segued into an impromptu performance of “Stand By Me” and Sinatra’s “My Kind of Town.” And you can’t forget when he sang a few lines of “Take me out to the Ball game” and his audience picked right up and sang the rest of the way, earning the applause of the band members!

With all of that, Green Day are obviously showmen: Billie Joe Armstrong the lead singer; Tre Cool the drummer; and, Mike Dirnt on bass. They did at least one song from every album from Dookie to their newest album, 21st Century Breakdown and played them well. This is a band that sounds better live than on CD which is a very unique thing with all the studio technology available.

They still rock from their punk roots. Their careers were rejuvenated with their American Idiot album, released in 2005, a rock opera that railed against politics and religion. With 21 Century Breakdown, the band continues their rock anthem streak but the anti- government/ anti establishment message is taken down a notch since the Republican proletariats are no longer holding office but instead is focusing on the fears of social movements among Armstrong’s generation- a message that transcends into the youth of today.

Armstrong is obviously the hit maker, the leader, the face man, whose energy wrapped around the 23,000 fans who packed the United Center, but the original three, with little help from a backup band, rock out together, grabbing the audience whether they sing of political awareness, or of just having fun.

Amid the pyrotechnics, the shout outs to the city of Chicago, and the one after another music hit made everyone at the Green Day know that Billie Joe Armstrong was in control, all the way down to the last song. Armstrong stood alone on the stage, holding his acoustic guitar, bathed in blue spot lights, crooning the words to “Time of Your Life” a rock anthem of all generations.

With a cacophony of fans singing along, lighters held high, Armstrong was the only god being worship at the United Center.

Thanks again to EventChaser for the awesome concert tickets and great opportunity to see Green Day!