An 'American Idiot' Musical Is Coming To Melbourne

We've always thought that elements of Green Day's 2004 album, American Idiot, resembled a rock opera - the movements of Jesus Of Suburbia, angst and the over-the-top nature of the songs have always felt larger than life.

American Idiot is returning to Australia in a staged musical production after previously coming here in 2018 with Grinspoon’s Phil Jamieson and The Living End’s Chris Cheney in lead roles.

Taking place at the Chapel Off Chapel from Thursday, 9th to Sunday, 26th March, the production this time around stars Mat Dwyer as Johnny, John Mondelo as Tunny, and Ronald MacKinnon as Will. Other characters include St. Jimmy (Will Huang), Whatsername (Romy Mcilroy), Heather (Harmony Thomas-Brown), Extraordinary Girl (Tashiya Prins) and the Favourite Son (Thomas Martin).

The musical is written by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and co-writer Michael Mayer. The main characters of the show "struggle to find meaning in a post-9/11 world" and rely "on the lyrics from Green Day’s groundbreaking album to execute the story line." Find tickets on TicketSearch.

Green Day recently announced that they will be joining forces with blink-182 to headline an absolutely stacked line-up at the 2023 edition of the When Were Young festival in Las Vegas.

The giants of pop punk will be joined in Las Vegas by some of the biggest names in the late '90s and early '00s pop punk, post-hardcore, emo and rock scenes, as well as some titans of the current day.

Good Charlotte, The Offspring, 30 Seconds To Mars, All Time Low, 5 Seconds Of Summer, Pierce The Veil, Rise Against, Yellowcard, Sum 41, Simple Plan, Say Anything, New Found Glory, Thrice and Finch feature on the massive first announcement for the event that will take place on October 21, 2023 at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds. 

Melbourne's Paperweight guitarist Luana talked about the album that changed her life, American Idiot. "American Idiot was a pivotal album for me - it was my gateway to pop-punk," she recalled.

"For someone with a terrible memory, I vividly remember the first time I saw the 'American Idiot' video clip - I was 11 years old and absolutely mesmerised. The crunchy guitars, the gushing green water, the black shirt with a red tie, the heart grenade - I hadn't seen anything like it.

"I started playing guitar in 2007, and these were some of the first songs I wanted to learn. It was also the moment I realised that if I just learned to play a power chord, I could play this entire album. Jesus of Suburbia was my favourite to play - so many different parts to the song and different strumming patterns to learn. It was the Bohemian Rhapsody of the 2000s."