Green Day fans and theater geeks flood Central Park for musical tribute. By Christopher MacAllister
Cast members of "American Idiot" perform on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
NEW YORK — If someone came up to you and called you an American idiot, you wouldn't react too kindly. But for the people in the audience for Friday's "Good Morning America" Summer Concert, the insult became a chant of praise for the cast of Green Day's Broadway musical. Families and punk rockers alike had gathered in Central Park, holding up signs and wearing T-shirts for "American Idiot" and the band behind the Tony-winning show.
The cast opened with the chorus of "American Idiot," accompanied by a mixture of choreographed movement and punkish freestyle head-banging, getting the audience excited. They ended with the salute to punk rock, their fists held in the air as the audience screamed.
The audience waited patiently as host Robin Roberts talked about the cast and show, but some of the actors passed the time by doing flips. Finally, lead actor John Gallagher Jr. stepped onto the stage with a guitar, singing the beginning verse of "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," accompanied by violins, and eventually the rest of the cast. Then they transitioned to the faster-paced "Holiday." There were a few wobbly standouts as each actor sang a line, but the rest of the cast and the audience helped out with the mighty "Amen!" the song asks for. They also shouted "Hey!" the way Billie Joe Armstrong does at Green Day shows.
After a break, and more praise from George Stephanopoulis, star Rebecca Jones sang "Letterbomb" (with some swear words taken out) while the other female castmembers danced. After Jones called out, "Wake up, America!" the guys arrived onstage and sang the opening verse of "American Idiot." And though this was the second time this song was played (with the same choreography), the audience didn't seem to mind.
Guitars in hand, the cast ended their set with "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)," the song that has ended many a Green Day show.
"It was awesome! They really captured the spirit of Green Day," one fan said after the show. "We saw the actual Broadway show on Wednesday, and even though [this] was shorter, it was just as good!"
What has been your favorite morning talk-show concert this summer? Talk about it in the comments.
The band has some wacky ideas for what else game's developers can do with their avatars. By James Montgomery
"Green Day: Rock Band"
One of — OK, probably the — biggest perk in getting your own video game is actually being in the game itself. At least that's what the guys in Green Day told us when we asked them about the just-released "Green Day: Rock Band." It seems that, much like James Cameron, the band was avatar crazy.
"We look like superheroes!" frontman Billie Joe Armstong laughed. "You know, it'd be interesting if they made the 'Rock Band' version of us getting out of bed in the morning, you know, like, scratching yourself and then making coffee."
"They were pretty gracious. They didn't give me nearly as many pimples as I had when I was younger," bassist Mike Dirnt added of the game's developers. "They managed to somehow make me look a little better than I did when I was younger [and] now too."
And while "Rock Band" may make Armstong, Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool look even better than they normally do (no offense intended) and goes to great length to capture their likenesses at various stages in their career — from scowling, scatological-minded kids to well-worn, worldly vets — the guys in Green Day wonder why the developers didn't take the avatar technology one step further. The way they see it, the possibilities are endless.
"They've got to come up with like, a beer bottle, for [when] you'll play the guitar, and then you reach for a drink and then, you can get points right there ... it's like, the whole graphic will show up, you know?" Armstrong smiled. "A lit cigarette at the top of the guitar, [smoke it] put it back. [There's] no end to the possibilities."
And if the avatar situation can be that advanced, why stop there?
"There could be interviews in the game too. Like, a concept where you have a journalist that comes up with the microphone and [the player] will have a microphone and have to match the interview," Armstrong said. "You know, get it right, you get points off that. It's a great idea — you guys, are you writing this down?"
"They can call it 'Embedded Journalist 2!' " Dirnt laughed.
MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our blog.
'I couldn't even finish the song,' Tre Cool laughs to MTV News. By James Montgomery
Green Day Photo: MTV News
Through all the "Green Day: Rock Band"-related stories about dye jobs and song selections we've written this week, there remains one topic we haven't explored yet. And, to be honest, it's a fairly pertinent one: Are the guys in Green Day actually good at playing their game?
You would think the answer would be yes, considering they wrote the songs and all. But, oddly, you'd be wrong.
"Well I did an interactive thing with some random 'Rock Band' players all throughout the world, and I got my ass kicked really bad," drummer Tre Cool laughed. "I couldn't even finish the song."
"Tre got pwned," bassist Mike Dirnt laughed.
"I did! I got pwned!" Cool shrugged. "Pwned like a newb."
So while they might not be great at the game, at least the guys in Green Day are all pros when it comes to gamer lingo. But what, exactly, was it about the game that they found so difficult?
"For me, it's really hard. I think I'd rather play the guitar on the game. The drums are really hard," Cool said. "But what's cool about the kit that you get is, you can put it on free-play mode and the practice mode, and you've got an electric drum set. So it's kind of cool."
"That's actually really cool," Dirnt added.
And the electric drum set has an added feature, one "Rock Band" developers probably never even dreamed of: the power to annoy.
"You can jam around in your living room and piss off the neighbors," Cool smiled. "Like I care about pissing off the neighbors."
MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our Multiplayer blog. For a chance to win a "Rock Band" guitar signed by the guys in Green Day, head over to the MTV Newsroom blog.
'It would be great to see songs from 39/Smooth and Kerplunk,' frontman Billie Joe Armstrong says of new game's track list. By James Montgomery
Green Day Photo: MTV News
When you've got a discography that stretches all the way back to 1989, cramming all of it into one video game is sort of tough. That was exactly the problem facing Green Day when they partnered with the publishers of the "Rock Band" franchise — there was just too much music.
So while the just-released "Green Day: Rock Band" features 47 tracks spanning the band's entire career, it opens to their breakout 1994 album, Dookie, which any astute GD fan can tell you was actually their third studio record. But some omissions might prove to be temporary, according to the guys in the band.
"That's what's cool about the 'Rock Band' thing, is if we want to add more songs, we can do it online, in the future," drummer Tre Cool explained. "If we want to do some surprises and stuff, we can always keep adding to it."
"Yeah, it would be great to see songs that are from, you know, [Green Day's 1990 debut] 39/Smooth and ['92's] Kerplunk, to come out on it," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong added. "You know, that's what's exciting ... to visit some of the older songs too."
But until those older songs are made available, Green Day fans are going to have to make due with the 47 tracks that did make the cut, a list that includes all of Dookie,American Idiot and most of 21st Century Breakdown, not to mention songs from their Insomniac,Nimrod and Warning albums too. And that's part of the fun for the guys in Green Day: looking back on older tunes, and even rehearing them as "stems," remixed for the game by Chris Lord-Alge.
"It's exciting for me to hear the song 'She,' and you know, that was fun to watch and play," Armstrong smiled. "And hearing the stems that they had to do with Chris Lord-Alge, who ended up doing all the different mixes for it to bring out the drums and the guitars and bass and vocals. That was really exciting too, for people to see or, to play or to hear again."
MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our Multiplayer blog. For a chance to win a "Rock Band" guitar signed by the guys in Green Day, head over to the MTV Newsroom blog.
'I thought we could have a lot of fun with 'Rock Band' and highlight different times in our career,' Mike Dirnt tells MTV News. By James Montgomery
Green Day Photo: MTV News
Capturing the likeness of a band that's spent the past two decades rifling through Manic Panic and tattoo ink at a breakneck pace was one of the biggest challenges facing the designers of "Green Day: Rock Band," and Green Day were more than ready to put them to the test.
"I think we were sort of challenging the programmers and the game designers, like, 'OK, but can you do this?' " drummer Tre Cool said. "And they're like, 'Sure!' 'Well ... can you do this?' 'Yeah!' 'OK, but it's got to be ... ' 'Yeah!' They were really good."
"I thought we could have a lot of fun with 'Rock Band' and highlight different times in our career," bassist Mike Dirnt said. "I thought it was a really cool way to kind of show people, you know, just different things [about the group] in a format the size of a TV set."
It seems that — nearly as much as their music — Green Day's career can be broken down into specific looks too: the baby dreadlocks and eye-popping dye jobs of the Dookie days; the bottle-blond, leather-jacket look of the Warning era; or the black spikes (and even blacker eyeliner) of American Idiot, to name just a few. And the designers of "Rock Band" knew that — which is why all those looks made the cut. Plus a whole lot more, too.
"Different details come up in the game that go from, you know, 1994 through 2000. Plus, what year is it now? 2009, 2010?" frontman Billie Joe Armstrong laughed. "And just kind of seeing the different tattoos and wearing a T-shirt I remember. Like, the T-shirt that I wore, and I wrote 'Stupid' on it and put an arrow up to my face. And that's the kind of details that they seem to nail."
And while the hairstyles and tattoos might be instantly recognizable to Green Day fans, there's another — slightly newer — detail that designers decided to include almost as a joke: the band's Drunk Bunny, which started making appearances during American Idiot performances and has since become a fan favorite. And, yes, his inclusion made all the difference to the guys in the band.
"Yeah, that's great too. Sometimes when we were playing festivals, whoever was playing right before us weren't quite getting the crowd going, so I think we ended up with a friend of ours just putting a bunny costume on and said, 'Hey, go warm up the crowd!' " Armstrong smiled. "So, you know, they'd just down beers and get everybody to do the YMCA, you know? It's definitely a nice touch."
MTV News is celebrating the release of "Green Day: Rock Band" with a week of special coverage. For more on the game, check out our Multiplayer blog. For a chance to win a "Rock Band" guitar signed by the guys in Green Day, head over to the MTV Newsroom blog.
'I think it might have inspired people to get real guitars and real drums,' Billie Joe Armstrong says of the video game's appeal. By James Montgomery
Green Day might not be the first band that comes to mind when you think "video games" (although in their early years, they did have a Sega Genesis on their "Book Mobile" tour bus). So with the release of the new, ultra-deluxe "Green Day: Rock Band" right around the corner, we asked the guys just why they decided to partner up with MTV Games for the project.
And, as is the case with many things involving the band, the answer was a combination of both high-minded idealism, and, well, low-brow, decidedly boozy realism.
"When I've seen 'Rock Band,' what I've noticed is that there's a lot of old songs and different kinds of songs by different bands that kids are picking up on," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong explained. "And that's what I thought was so cool about it ... ['Rock Band' is] its own radio station in a way. But, you know, you're sort of involved with it. And though you're playing plastic guitars, I think it might even have inspired some people to actually go out and, you know, get real guitars and real drums and start to figure it out on their own, you know?"
"The first time I ever saw 'Rock Band,' uh, it was like in a pub in California and they had a TV and they had the game set up in a little corner," drummer Tré Cool added. "And the people that were in there were having a good time and drinking and stuff. ... It was an instant party. [And I was like] 'That's pretty cool!' They were grownups, playing games."
Seriously, what other game can you think of that's both inspiring and totally fun to play when you're wasted? So Green Day signed up, and the band's game is due Tuesday. There's only one problem: Although their name is imprinted on the front of the box, the guys are actually rather terrible at "Rock Band." But that doesn't mean they're gonna give up working on their game.
"I've played 'Rock Band' a few times, with family friends and their kids, you know, go in there and try to jam with them," bassist Mike Dirnt smiled. "And my experience prior to us being a part of it in any way shape or form has been, uh, it's hard! But then you certainly catch on, you know ... eventually."
Are you excited to play Green Day's "Rock Band"? Think you're better than the band is at the video game? Tell us in the comments!
Check out the Multiplayer blog, updated daily, for even more gaming coverage.
'American Idiot' earns three nods, while the Jay-Z backed 'Fela!' gets 11. By Rochell D. Thomas, with additional reporting by James Montgomery
Green Day Photo: Jason Kempin/ Getty Images
It looks like Broadway could be the boulevard of fulfilled dreams for Green Day. Just weeks after opening, the Grammy-winning punk-pop band's rock opera "American Idiot" has been nominated for a Best Musical Tony Award.
The musical, directed by Michael Mayer and based on the 2004 album by the same name, faces some tough competition in the category. Other nominees are "Fela!," the musical backed by Jay-Z, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith and Alicia Keys, about late Nigerian Afrobeat guru and activist Fela Kuti; "Memphis," Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan's romantic show about a white DJ who falls in love with a black singer in the segregated 1950s; and "Million Dollar Quartet," a show about the historic Sun Records jam session of Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis.
"Idiot" earned a total of three nominations, including nods for best scenic design and best lighting. But its pile of accolades pales in comparison to industry favorite "Fela!" which tied with the "La Cage aux Folles" revival for most nods this year, earning a total of 11 nominations including best performances for both its lead actors (Sahr Ngaujah and Lillias White), best choreography and best direction.
Still three nominations isn't bad for a production that was never even intended for this medium. "[When we wrote American Idiot] we didn't think about Broadway or having a musical or anything like that," Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told MTV News back in March. "But the fact that it's here now, you look at the curve of our career, and it makes sense."
Show brought in nearly 0,000 in its opening week. By Gil Kaufman
Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong Photo: Jason Kempin/ Getty Images
Green Day can add another notch to their studded belts: the Berkeley, California-bred pop-punk trio are now officially Broadway kings. According to Variety, the group's "American Idiot" musical had a solid debut near the top of the Great White Way money chart last week, with sales dramatically up thanks to mostly positive reviews.
After opening last Tuesday, the musical treatment of the band's landmark 2004 album brought in a hefty 7,860 during the week ending Sunday. Those numbers were up from the previous week's take of 4,946, when the show was still in previews, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A spokesperson for "Idiot" said the first week's figures would have been even higher if all the opening-night tickets had not been complimentary and a portion of other tickets for two other performances last week had not been given out for free. Despite the good news for "American Idiot," the Journal noted that the show has yet to notch a full week of sold-out performances.
Green Day made sure the first week of official performances grabbed headlines by treating fans to a mini-concert during Thursday night's performance. The band came out and played the title song and "Basket Case" to a shocked and delighted audience.
"This is my first night on Broadway," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong announced as his two bandmates — bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool — took their places behind him. The adoring audience, which included winners of MTV's "American Idiot" contest, went berserk and rushed the stage to get a little closer to the band they idolize.
Clearly, the performance was as surprising to the cast as it was to the crowd, as the actors — still onstage from their curtain call — joined in the bedlam. They broke out video cameras and snapped photos. One actor crowd-surfed over the audience as Armstrong encouraged the crowd to pump their fists in the air during the song's bridge.
"I think I had heart failure! It was the most amazing experience," contest winner Fallyn Ruzzi told MTV News following the show. "I mean, the play was great, and then Green Day played songs, too!"
Ruzzi was just one of the 300 lucky winners who flocked to New York's St. James Theater hours before the performance was even scheduled to begin, waited in line to pick up their tickets to the musical, and then got to witness a post-show performance by Green Day. It took most of the audience completely by surprise.
"We had heard Green Day weren't even going to be here," Ruzzi said. "It was amazing when they came out!"
But what did Ruzzi — and other winners — think of the show itself? Well, as one might expect, they were blown away by the production. But, like most hard-core Green Day fans, when they first heard the band was taking "Idiot" to Broadway, she had her doubts.
"I didn't like the idea of Green Day coming to Broadway at first — I thought it was a bad idea," Ruzzi said. "But then I heard the songs from the Berkeley Rep [performances] and I just fell in love with it."
Echoing those sentiments was Ruzzi's friend — and fellow Green Day enthusiast — Toni Ann Graffigna, who was also skeptical of the album coming to the Great White Way. After seeing the show, she's now firmly a believer.
"I wasn't that crazy about the idea at first, but it's Green Day, you gotta give it a chance," she said. "The whole show touched my heart. I would see it every day, if I could. I almost cried ... I'd recommend everyone to see it, even if you don't like Green Day, just come out and see it."
