Green Day at SXSW – Good to Have You Back, Boys

The return of Green Day was stunted by the very public breakdown of Billie Joe Armstrong, after the punk legend was admitted to rehab following his onstage rant at the iHeartRadio Music Festival last September. 

So when the Basket Case singers were announced to play SXSW, naturally, fans of the band were ecstatic at the idea of finally getting their beloved punk rockers back once again.  And they are back, emphatically so.  Billboard’s review of their triumphant return read: “It quickly became clear that the group was as ferocious and, occasionally, funny – and certainly as fun -- as ever.  As the touring quintet tore into "99 Revolutions," one of eight songs from last year's trilogy, Armstrong commanded everyone in the theater to get off their (expletive) (expletives) and "go crazy." " This ain't no f***ing café!"  Marking their homecoming to prominence, the SXSW Film Festival also premiered two new Green Day documentaries, "Broadway Idiot" and "Cuatro!"  making this the perfect festival to stage a comeback. 

Billie Joe Armstrong performing with Green Day in London

Plans are for Green Day to be touring again by the end of this month, meaning many of the fans disappointed by the cancelled gigs late last year will finally be appeased.  And since his sting in rehab Joe-Armstrong seems to be applying his talents to different fields; he’s composing original material for a 2014 production by the Yale Repertory Theatre of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.