If anything has ever highlighted the evolution of punk rock more keenly than the comparison between Download’s Friday main stage headliners and this evening’s Opus Stage closers, then it certainly doesn’t come to mind easily.
Last night, Green Day put on a set of slick, cuddly, melodious pop-punk bangers surrounded by all the bloated trappings of stadium rock. It was far more Kiss or Motley Crue than anything that came from punk in Washington in 1982, New York in 1976 or London in ‘77. Now, the godfathers of that last scene and the band who first brought the genre to prominence aim to remind Download just what classic punk rock is all about.
