GREEN Day said it felt like home when they returned to Manchester, one of their first UK shows in four years.

Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong declared that the city shared his joy, love and appreciation of music at the arena on Monday. With a verbal attack against Donald Trump it seemed like this tour has become a release and an escape from the US political climate for the California pop punk trio.

And that is what it was like for the 21,000 fans who became as much of a spectacle as anything happening on stage. To see thousands of revellers jumping, waving their hands and putting their fists in the air in time to the songs showed the pure power of music.

Green Day understand that power better than most considering they have been doing this since they were teenagers. They always want their audiences to have a taste of that too and so they brought an exhilarated fan on stage to sing Longview before doing a stage dive.

Warrington Guardian:

Later on they brought another fan up to play guitar on their Operation Ivy cover Knowledge before declaring she could keep the instrument. Letting people live out their rock and roll dreams has become such a great part of Green Day’s shows, the excitement was contagious.

Perhaps it is what gives the band, now in their mid 40s, their energy for the Manchester show was a mammoth two and a half hours.

It was more than a gig too, morphing into a full show. There was fire, sparks, smoke and a confetti shower and Billie Joe literally had the audience in the palm of his hand when he pitched one side of the arena against the other in a chanting battle using simple gestures.

Warrington Guardian:

Green Day also toyed with their songs to engage with audience and build momentum to great effect with songs like Hitchin’ A Ride. And there was something of a carnival atmosphere for their ode to cross dressing, King For A Day.

With a set list spanning more than 25 years, including some really old school tracks like Christie Road and 2000 Light Years Away, fans of all ages were united.

Other highlights included Basket Case, offering a reminder of how much of an anthem it is 23 years later, and staggering nine-minute rock opera epic Jesus of Suburbia. Who said rock is dead?