Green Day – Bullet In A Bible

Since September 21st 2004,Green Day has been a non stop rock onslaught, riding the waves of the multi-platinum American Idiot and all it’s popular singles. They’ve toured the world, blowing everyone away and reminding them of why Green Day are on the top of the charts at the moment. But out of the hundreds of shows they’ve played this past year, their two biggest shows came on June 11th and 12th of 2005 at London’s Milton Keynes National Bowl where they played for a combined total of 130,000 people (65,000 each night). And what better way to document the band’s largest live show in their career than with a live DVD?

And essentially, that’s what Bullet In A Bible is. A selection of songs from the two sold out nights in London placed together in both CD and DVD format, but in reality, Bullet In A Bible is so much more than just that.

First and foremost, out of all the live DVDs that have been spat out these past few years, Bullet In A Bible is easily the best one – both sonically and visually. Director Samuel Bayer really captured the monumental performance and brought it together into one giant visual explosion. Not only is the image crystal clear, but Bayer has added tons of effects and used countless angles to give the DVD the best possible feel. They have tons of various angles, close up of the bands, crowd views, stage views and even helicopter views. They cut in and out effortlessly, even switching from black and white to bright shimmering color without being obtrusive or disconnecting. Every little effect Bayer added made the DVD more complete and the incredibly magnitude of the band’s performance added to it even more. The fact that it’s an outside venue gave them even more freedom, adding more pyro then I’ve ever seen and even ended the set off with a fantastic fireworks display. Sonically, it’s clear that Green Day had a major label funding the recording because it too is so crisp and clear. You can hear everything, even the crowd’s comments and chants, perfectly. This helps the CD portion of this become more real than most live CDs.

On top of all of that, spliced in between all the songs are exclusive interviews with the band members and their fans. This gives the loyal fan more of an insight into the band and their opinions; and while it would’ve been nice to hear Tre Cool and Mike Dirnt talk a bit more, the interviews are interesting and actually add to the enjoyment of the film.

But still, the reason Bullet In A Bible gets a perfect score is because this not only documents these two shows, but the last year’s worth of shows. I know that I, personally, will never ever forget seeing Billie Joe Armstrong walk down the pedway at Rexall Place doused in four glowing spotlights and strumming the opening chords to Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life), and this just reinforces it. So if you were lucky enough to be one of the 130,000 people at Milton Keynes back in June or if you, like me, where blown away by the band anytime in the past year, then this DVD is for you. Even if you don’t buy it, borrow it from a friend and watch it, just make sure to see it, because it deserves to be seen.