Green Day's digital "21 Guns" goes gold

The digital version of “21 Guns” — the second single from Green Day’s current gold album 21st Century Breakdown, has been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album’s first digital single, “Know Your Enemy,” went gold earlier this summer. The Bay Area-based rock band’s video for “21 Guns” — from their current gold album 21st Century Breakdown — has been nominated for three 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, in the “Best Rock Video,” “Best Cinematography,” and “Best Direction” categories. Green Day are scheduled to perform at the awards ceremony at New York City’s Radio City Music Hall on Sunday, September 13th.

“21 Guns” is the second single from the band’s eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, as well as on the Rock, Active Rock, and Alternative charts. 21st Century Breakdown, which Rolling Stone has called “a rock opera in which the rock always comes first,” also topped the charts in 24 countries including the UK, Canada, and Japan.

Green Day recently completed their North American tour in support of 21st Century Breakdown with a spectacular show at the Forum in Los Angeles. In its review, the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Over three action-packed hours, Green Day proved that the arena-rock concert — usually a venue for chest-beating bravado and shallow bombast — can be a meaningful experience, an opportunity for a band with something to say, to say it.” Green Day, which is singer-guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool, will hit the road at the end of the month for their European tour beginning in Lisbon, Portugal, on September 28th.

Finally, the stage version of Green Day’s multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning 2004 album American Idiot, which premieres at Berkeley Rep, has already been extended three weeks due to record-breaking sales and unprecedented demand for seats. Called “the hottest fall theatre ticket,” by the San Jose Mercury News, American Idiot brings Green Day’s blockbuster album to life in a show staged by Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), who collaborated with Armstrong on the story. The show, which opens Berkeley Rep’s 2009/2010 season in the state-of-the-art Roda Theatre, runs from September 4th through November 11th.

http://www.greenday.com/