JIMMY EAT WORLD AND GREEN DAY, Delta Center, Wednesday.
It was just as good the second time around.
Last November, Green Day was on the road supporting its new album "American Idiot," one of the best CDs of 2004, and made a stop at the E Center for one of the best concerts of the year. Wednesday night, Green Day was still on the American Idiot tour, but this time arrived in Utah with some Grammys and MTV video awards in hand.
The result: Same great show but a lot more fans showed up to see it.
At most concerts you hear a collective groan when a band says it wants to play songs off its latest record. With Green Day, it was just the opposite. The band launched right into its award-winning concept album, opening with the superb "Jesus of Suburbia" and the crowd-pleasing "Holiday."
Other tracks played off "American Idiot" included "Are We the Waiting," "St. Jimmy," "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Wake Me Up Before September Ends," a song that was originally about the death of lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong's father but has taken on new meaning since the release this year of the epic anti-war video for the song.
Although the politically charged "Idiot" remains just as relevant today as it did a year ago, the message of the songs seemed lost on a few shrieking adolescent fans who preferred the goofy juvenile prankster side of Green Day. And the band did not disappoint them, either.
The always entertaining and mucho energetic Armstrong ran around all parts of the stage encouraging the crowd to chant, clap and even do the wave. He kept the shrieking level high with calls of "Salt Lake City!" while pyrotechnics went off at different points of the night on a stage built to resemble a totalitarian political rally.
Standard favorites, such as "Longview," "Hitchin' a Ride," "Brain Stew," "Basket Case," "She" and "Minority" — which had the entire Delta Center audience jumping — made an appearance. The band dug deep into its catalog for old-time fans with "2000 Light-Years Away" and "Maria." "Shout" and "Stand By Me" were even thrown into "King for a Day" for good measure.
And yes, once again they invited three fans on stage to take over their instruments, and again one of those fans was presented with Armstrong's guitar.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com