THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Opening up the vault and revisiting a series of historic U.K. broadcast performances, five-time Grammy-winning band Green Day proudly present The BBC Sessions live album. The 16-track collection features four seminal performances recorded at the British broadcaster’s legendary Maida Vale Studios from 1994, 1996, 1998, and 2001 together on one album, marking the first time these recordings have been mastered for official release.
Four months after dropping Dookie upon an unsuspecting world, singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, drummer Tre Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt entered the BBC’s hallowed halls on June 8, 1994 and ripped through a raucous and raw four-song set of She, When I Come Around, Basket Case and 2000 Light Years. It captured the band on the precipice of their worldwide explosion. That day, they even took advantage of the free studio time — much like countless predecessors in the ’70s and ’80s — and even discovered the title of Insomniac’s eventual opener Armatage Shanks in the loo. They returned to the BBC in 1996 in support of that album, turning up with Brain stew / Jaded and Walking Contradictions. Two years later, they snuck an F-bomb into a hyper-charged Nice Guys Finish Last in the midst of the Nimrod era. Finally, they capped off summer 2001 with four Warning anthems, including Church On Sunday. They’re all on The BBC Sessions.”
