Continued: Green Day's Armstrong has field day in Minnesota

It's hard to contain Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. He has too much energy, too many ideas, too much talent and too much to say.

Saturday at Target Center, he seemed to be having too much fun in what could rank as one of the year's most exhilarating, exhausting and provocative concerts. In fact, it might be on your all-time list unless you saw Green Day in 2005 at Xcel Energy Center. Saturday's concert was similar in approach, texture, effects/bits/gimmicks, vibe and even content.

The most significant differences were that turnout was modest (maybe 10,000 vs. an Xcel sellout of 18,172) and that Armstrong, the 37-year-old unstoppable Bay Area showman, was more relaxed and effusive about his love for Minnesota. (His wife, Adrienne, is from New Brighton, and they maintain a second home in St. Paul.) He talked about being in town for New Year's Eve, the keyboardist's mom being from Edina, the Twins winning on Friday night and a Mankato woman petitioning for Green Day to play there. Armstrong and his bandmates even threw in a revved-up version of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy" for good measure.

By the end of the 140-minute performance, it was hard to tell what Armstrong did most often: mention Minneapolis (St. Paul and/or Minnesota), drop f-bombs or try to get the crowd to sing "hey-oh" with him.

Green Day started its set by focusing on material from its new rock opera, "21st Century Breakdown," a powerful socio-political commentary that is less obvious than its landmark 2004 Bush-bashing rock opera "American Idiot." Green Day did several hard-hitting "Breakdown" tunes sandwiched around the anti-Iraq war hit "Holiday" from "Idiot." Then the Berkeley, Calif., trio, augmented by three sidemen in concert, revisited its punk heyday with "Hitchin a Ride" and the smash hits "Longview" and "Basket Case" (with three fans invited onstage separately to sing) from 1994's "Dookie," punk-rock's commercial apex.

"King for a Day" (1997) found the musicians in costumes, including the saxophonist dressed as a moon-walking, one-gloved Michael Jackson. At song's end, Armstrong ad libbed an oddball series of oldies: Broadway's "If My Friends Could See Me Now," Al Jolson's "Swanee," the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There" and Ben E. King's "Stand by Me."

After all that rock 'n' roll fun, it was time to get serious with another salvo from "21st Century Breakdown" and the encore assault from "American Idiot." Then the irrepressible Armstrong downshifted and closed, just like he did in 2005, solo with his acoustic guitar on "Minnesota Girl" (a love song for his wife) and "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)."

For a set list, go to www.startribune.com/poplife. Jon Bream • 612-673-1719