This directorial liberty doesn't break the mood-it bends it over the table and goes to town. That's right: At the end of each and every song, the viewer is ripped out of Milton-Keynes and dropped into a pile of amateur photography. The bad news - and I swear I am not making this up - is that this footage is intercut with the actual concert. Armstrong), and a strangely disconcerting look at attendant Green Day fans (some of whom are clearly pushing 50-more power to you), the footage is informative, endearing, and, at times, downright hilarious. With the exception of an unintentionally cheesy trip to London's Imperial War Museum (we know war is hell without your knocking on a dismantled bomb as if it were a funereal bell, Mr. Much promotional ado has been made about Bible's secondary attraction - documentary footage consisting of interviews with the band and peeks behind the scenes. You'll be blinded, you'll be deafened, but you sure as hell won't be bored. Jets of fire shoot dozens of feet into the air. Green Day are in love with their craft, and their dedication shows in every playful leap, frenzied dash, and stage-humping tryst. The film sends a clear message that, when Green Day first declared their intent to become "the biggest live band in the world," they weren't just whistlin' Longview. Viewers are introduced not only to frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tré Cool, but also to the "unofficial" members of Green Day who transform the studio trio into a touring septet: guitarists Jason White (of Armstrong side project Pinhead Gunpowder) and Mike Pelino, keyboardist Jason Freese, and Ronnie Blake on horns and percussion. The songs that comprise the Bible, however, are delivered with a vehement fervor and often include substantial extensions meant to stoke the crowd's collective energy and invite its participation. The seemingly arbitrary exclusion of these choice performances is as dumbfounding as it is disappointing. (So how did "Shout" make the cut?) "She"? "Jaded"? "Maria"? It's live or bust, baby. (One audience member can be seen brandishing an "I can play 'Knowledge'" sign, incidentally reminding the viewer of the spectacle on which he or she is missing out.) Absent also is showstopping Queen cover "We Are The Champions," presumably due to licensing issues. Are you curious about Green Day's oft-publicized trademark of loaning their instruments to audience members for an amateur performance of a Lookout! Records standard? Well, unless you saw it in person, you're out of luck there's no "Knowledge" to be found in this Bible. This is not the full Milton-Keynes concert. If your instincts tell you that something's rotten in Denmark-trust them. "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" (Nimrod)."Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" (American Idiot)."Wake Me Up When September Ends" (American Idiot).But as much as the fairweather fan will regard this DVD/CD pairing as an authoritative gem of biblical proportions, the die-hard will remember it chiefly for all the elements that are conspicuously absent. Bayer, best known for directing all of American Idiot's music videos (including the 12-minute, psychotically ambitious "Jesus Of Suburbia"), has crafted the ultimate complement to the band's studio catalogue. Is it as indispensable as the Grammy Award-winning album by which it was inspired? For the Green Day fan, the answer is a qualified yes. (Makes Green Day's arena shows look positively intimate by comparison, eh?) Fourteen months after the punk trio stunned longtime fans and newcomers alike with the outstanding Idiot, Green Day present the official companion to their ninth full-length release and magnum opus: the Samuel Bayer-directed Bible. Both performances entertained audiences in excess of 65,000 screaming fans, making each of them the biggest one-act punk concerts in the history of the genre. Bullet In A Bible chronicles Green Day's two-gig stay in Milton-Keynes, England.
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