Green Day in Dubai concert review: A boulevard of fulfilled dreams for music lovers

The mood was set. The concert opened with a stellar display of power from Offspring, which included verbal jousting, metal riffs and a homage to Guns N Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine. Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody played in the interval. The crowds chanted Gallileo in different pitches.

The arena was pulsing with a quiet, yet electrifying energy. Everyone was ready.

And, then Green Day took the stage. It’s not an exaggeration to use the word unstoppable here, because how else do you describe seven consecutive electrifying performances in one go? Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong’s wide-eyed hello lit up the stage, and he urged the crowd to savour the moment: Put the phones away. Instagram can wait. Tonight might not come again. He wasn’t completely going to let his audience lose the moment with phone recordings.

In order to hold on to that sentiment, a night of nostalgia and rock vibes was made. Crowds sang, chanted, hummed, and jumped to the old, cherished favourites, like  21 Guns, Minority, Holiday and American Idiot. At what seemed like just the right time at different songs, Armstrong demanded a blackout of the spotlights. The light would just be the audience. Soon, the arena was just a beacon of over thousand lights and lyrics. A lucky fan got her wish fulfilled as she was called on stage to sing along with Armstrong, and she made the most of this chance, her face almost radiating with exhilaration.

At one point during Holiday, prior to Armstrong’s acidic rap, there were just claps from the audience in admirable synchronisation. It was something inexplicable, giving rise to goosebumps, because that’s when you know, you’re in the presence of music and people who just want to succumb to the moment. It didn’t matter whether they preferred rock, pop or jazz generally: This night, they were just here for the love of music that defined their childhood.

While many from the audience yelled and hooted, there were a few who just had a joyful, quiet smile on their faces; a smile brimming with nostalgia. Somewhere, the 14-year-old in them, who had plastered their room with posters, or had scoured a still-developing internet for music links, had a dream fulfilled. This was amplified further, when Boulevard of Broken Dreams played: A song that was a formative experience for most millennials, as one tearfully from the audience could be heard saying. These songs had never quite left them; they wouldn’t ever forget the words, the drum beats or the guitar riffs. At one point, Armstrong almost let the crowd take on, and there was just a chorus of ‘Uhuhs’, which was soon followed by the spectacular riffs from Mike Durnt. The pace calmed and sobered with Wake Me Up When September Ends.

All in all, the concert was a reminder that you don't actually need time travel when you have music. It just takes one beat, a single lyric to find different versions of yourself.