March 16, 2013 0:07

Green Day show up at 'Broadway Idiot' premiere at SXSW Green Day Tickets

The band's 'Cuatro!' documentary also screened as part of a Green Day double feature

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Photo: PA

Green Day introduced the film Broadway Idiot at SXSW in Austin, Texas last night (March 15).

The documentary tells the story behind the stage musical version of the band's 2004 album 'American Idiot' and was directed by Doug Hamilton.

Green Day arrived onstage at The Paramount cinema to cheers from the audience, which was packed with fans of the band. Bassist Mike Dirnt was the only member of the band who spoke, saying above the crowd commotion: "Thanks for coming out this afternoon for our little feature and thanks Doug Hamilton". He also thanked "the two Tims", Tim Wheeler and Tim Lynch - who directed and produced Cuatro! another Green Day film which screened after Broadway Idiot, also at The Paramount.

After Dirnt spoke, the band's frontman Billie Joe Armstrong took the mic and threw it across the stage into a waiting pair of hands. The double screening marked the first ever double feature in the history of the film arm of the SXSW festival.

Broadway Idiot opened with Billie Joe Armstrong saying of working in the musical theatre medium: "There's people that like to do things the safe way, and that's never been part of my vocabulary."

Cuatro! looked at the process behind the bands 2012 album trilogy, 'Uno! Dos! Tre!' and featured live footage from the tiny club shows in the States that the band played whilst working on the record as well as behind the scenes footage of the band working on the album.

In the film Armstrong reveals that recording 1997's 'Nimrod' was a "lyrical nightmare" as he had to write lyrics in the studio, something he vowed never to do again. Cuatro! also features footage of Mike Dirnt beating world champion tennis player Serena Williams at table tennis.

The Green Day double feature was followed by a live show from the band at The Moody Theatre, their first since Armstrong was admitted to rehab last autumn.

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