This past weekend, Saturday Night Live finished its 34th season in style. With Will Ferrell returning to host, producer Lorne Michaels had to make sure his musical guest was up to par, as well. What better act than this week’s hot ticket, Green Day! In support of their eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, the Oakland trio hit the New York City nightlife hard with two new cuts.
The band kicked off with a tight performance of current single, “Know Your Enemy”. The song might not be a staff or reader favorite around here, but the country’s loving it, as it’s eating up the charts by the week. Armstrong is 
having a blast with it, too. When he’s not pummeling out power chords, he’s jumping up and down on the microphone to the poppy, admittedly catchy beat. This is a guy that’s happy to be out of the studio. At the end, in a rush of joy, Armstrong tackled bassist Mike Dirnt in a rather playful, brotherly way.
“21 Guns” is a long, drawn out song, made obvious in their second and last performance of the night, which seemed to never end. Armstrong’s vocals are clean and powerful, but it’s just not that interesting of a song. They would have been wise to choose another track, instead. Maybe “Peacemakers”, or hell, the titular track? Let’s just hope this isn’t an indication of what the second single will be. Ouch.
Green Day is hot on a promotional push this week. They’ll be in New York following up this performance with some less than secret, but overall pretty exclusive gigs. Then in a month and some change, the actual supporting tour kicks off in Seattle, with ticket sales already hot on the market. Grab ’em while you can!
Green Day 2009 Tour Dates:
07/03 – Seattle, WA @ Key Arena
07/04 – Vancouver, BC @ GM Place
07/06 – Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
07/07 – Saskatoon, SAS @ Credit Union Centre
07/09 – Winnipeg, MAN @ MTS Centre
07/10 – Fargo, ND @ Fargo Dome
07/11 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Center
07/13 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
07/14 – Detroit, MI @ Palace of Auburn Hills
07/16 – Hamilton, ONT @ Copps Coliseum
07/17 – Ottawa, ONT @ Scotiabank
07/18 – Montreal, QUE @ Bell Centre
07/20 – Boston, MA @ TD Bank
07/21 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wachovia Spectrum
07/22 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Mellon Arena
07/24 – Hartford, CT @ XL Center
07/25 – Albany, NY @ Times Union Center
07/27 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
07/29 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
07/31 – Nashville, TN @ Somet Center
08/01 – Atlanta, GA @ Gwinnet
08/03 – Tampa, FL @ St. Pete Times Forum
08/04 – Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena
08/05 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Arena
08/07 – New Orleans, LA @ New Orleans Arena
08/08 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
08/09 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
08/11 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
08/12 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center
08/13 – Omaha, NE @ Qwest
08/15 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
08/16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ ESA (Energy Sol Arena)
08/18 – San Jose, CA @ HP Pavilion
08/20 – San Diego, CA @ Cox Arena
08/21 – Las Vegas, NV @ Mandalay
08/22 – Phoenix, AZ @ US Air Arena
08/24 – Sacramento, CA @ Arco Arena
08/25 – Los Angeles, CA @ Forum
09/28 – Lisbon, PT @ Atlantico Pavilion
09/29 – Madrid, ES @ Palacio de Deportes de la Comunidad
10/01 – Barcelona, ES @ Palau Sant Jordi
10/02 – Toulouse, FR @ Zenith
10/04 – Paris, FR @ Bercy
10/05 – Cologne, DE @ Cologne Arena
10/07 – Berlin, DE @ O2 World Arena
10/08 – Hamburg, DE @ Color Line Arena
10/09 – Copenhagen, DK @ Forum
10/11 – Stockholm, SE @ The Globe
10/12 – Oslo, NO @ Spectrum
10/16 – Rotterdam, NL @ Ahoy
10/17 – Antwerp, BE @ Sportpalais
10/19 – Glasgow, UK @ SECC
10/20 – Belfast, IE @ Odyssey Arena
10/21 – Dublin, IE @ The O2
10/23 – London, UK @ The O2
10/24 – London, UK @ The O2
10/26 – Sheffield, UK @ Sheffield Arena
10/27 – Birmingham, UK @ LG Arena
10/28 – Birmingham, UK @ LG Arena
10/30 – Manchester, UK @ MEN Arena
10/31 – Manchester, UK @ MEN Arena
11/03 – Munich, DE @ Olympiahalle
11/06 – Vienna, AT @ Stadthalle
11/08 – Zurich, CH @ Hallenstadion
11/10 – Milan, IT @ Datchforum
11/11 – Bologna, IT @ Futur Show
11/12 – Turin, IT @ Palaolimpico
