"It's been a slightly unpredictable path," Billie Joe Armstrong told a Chicago crowd already on the verge of hysteria after two hours of punk mayhem. Then he paused, surveying the surreal scene. "But I wouldn't trade it for the world."
The adrenalized singer's band, Green Day, had nearly wrapped a monumental, energy-packed assault on Thursday night – their first arena gig since Armstrong's mental breakdown at last fall's iHeartRadio show in Vegas. Rehab for alcohol and drug addiction soon followed.
By then, the evening had long felt, well, right: There was Armstrong, bounding about the stage, slashing away at his guitar, humping the ground and belting out his angst-ridden lyrics alongside bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool.
It hadn't ben a foregone conclusion that this rowdy return of epic proportions would be the end result of a tumultuous few months for the long-touring punk kings. Following rehab, Armstrong admitted to Rolling Stone he remained uneasy about the prospect of returning to the road.
"I'm not sure I'm ready," he confessed to senior writer David Fricke.
Yet if any lingering doubts remained in Armstrong's mind, they were quickly washed away by the Chicago crowd's exuberant energy.
