![Bullet in a Bible [CD + DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AMASHG%2BoL._SL500_.jpg)
| If you're wondering how Green Day managed to become the biggest punk band in the world, take a look at Bullet In A Bible. Recorded at Green Day's two-night run at Milton Keynes National Bowl in June 2005, this combined CD/DVD sees these former bong-hitting Californian drop-outs embracing political activism, pantomime hilarity, and all the fripperies of a rock opera - and excelling at all three. The first half is essentially a run-through of the group's 2004 album American Idiot, complete with anti-American rabble-rousing and a set of barbed insults tossed back at the "rednecks" across the pond. That out the way, the band careen into a sort of greatest hits set, with the likes of "Longview" and "Hitchin' A Ride" sharing space with a brass-laden "King For A Day" that sees Billie-Joe Armstrong prancing the stage in crown and ermine cape, singing snatches of Lulu's "Shout" and Eric Idle's "Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life". Tremendously silly, but Green Day have managed to figure out how to play it like showmen without resorting to juvenile puerility or morphing into corporate yes-men, and that's a way harder trick than it looks. - Louis Pattison |
