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July 10, 2009

Get your Green Day fix while you can

By Amanda Dyslin

We worked for weeks on Campaign Green Day to try and get through to the band and somehow convince them that playing a show in Mankato would be an awesome thing to do.

But I think we need to face the very real possibility that they’ll never set foot on Mankato soil again. I know, I know. It’s hard for me, too.

But, come on, the band’s performance at the tour opener in Seattle on the 3rd was likened to that of Bruce Springsteen and U2 by The Seattle Times. It’s really not news that they are way out of our league, and it would take quite the miracle to bring them back to sleepy Mankato.

That’s why I think you’ve got to head up to the Target Center Saturday night and see them while you can. The reviews of the live show have been outstanding. Pyrotechnics, a setlist that includes career-spanning material, and the little extras that make an arena show feel like a club gig (inviting a fan up to play guitar during “Jesus of Suburbia,” inviting others to dance on stage, and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong even, apparently, kissed some dude full on the lips).

In a recent interview, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said he wants to give Springsteen a run for his money on his live shows. I’ve seen the Boss live four times, and I certainly scoffed when I read that. But, then again, Springsteen is pushing 60, and the last performance I saw in May seemed to lack a tad of the usual energy. ... I’m just sayin’.

Anyway, there are promises of T-shirt guns, getting sprayed in the crowed by Billie Joe with a water pistol, and hey, maybe you’ll be that dude who gets kissed this time.

Here are a few songs likely to be a part of the setlist:

“Song of the Century,” “21st Century Breakdown,” “Know Your Enemy,” “Holiday,” “Geek Stink Breath,” “Jaded,” “Longview,” “Basket Case,” “She,” “21 Guns,” “Jesus of Suburbia” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” among many

others.

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