Et tu, Green Day?

I will be seeing Green Day for my third time at the end of this month. My first two concerts were riding on the back of popular albums: first 2004's excellent American Idiot and then 2009's 21st Century Breakdown. I went into these concerts with clear expectations of the music. Green Day's catalog spans more than twenty years of punk rock that has been consistently built on the band's unique sound, and these first two concerts were perfect blends of the old and the new.

So why does this upcoming concert feel like I am going to my senior prom with the cross-eyed girl that no one else wanted to ask out?

No, it is not that 2012 iHeartRadio incident and rehab stint. Green Day is certainly no stranger to drama, as this latest incident unfortunately played out, and they also are not strangers to finding themselves in a commercial stalemate. 1994's Dookie was a monster success with over 26 million album sold. By the time 1997's Nimrod was released, Green Day had to make due with sales of just 2.6 million albums (still no small feat, but for the band credited with bringing punk to mainstream rock, a huge disappointment).

Despite the ups and downs, Green Day ultimately captivated the rock world again in 2004 with American Idiot. An album so brilliantly written and executed, it is set to surpass Dookie as Green Day's biggest album, spawned a traveling musical, and led to an excellent follow-up in 2009's 21st Century Breakdown, a spiritual successor in every manner of speaking.

It turns out my concert woes are based in Green Day's latest studio effort - their ¡Uno! !Dos! ¡Tre! trilogy of albums. Wanting to avoid a Pink Floyd-esque lock-in to operatic narratives, Billie Joe and company set out to explore their garage-based punk rock roots. Unfortunately, releasing three albums in five months may end up being the band's biggest creative and commercial mistake in their careers.

Why is the trilogy on track to be Green Day's poorest performing album to date (with less than 600,000 units sold in the first six months) and a big critical "meh" from the music world?

Let me back up for a second: the albums are decent, but not great. Thirty-seven (37!) fresh tracks spread across three albums may be stretching the creative juices a little too thin. For every excellent "Nuclear Family," "Stray Heart," or "X-Kid" there is a bland "Wild One" or even a horrendous "Nightlife" (what the actual fuck?). The trilogy would unmistakably have been better as one album: take the best five tracks from each set, combine them with an optional album of B-sides, and we would not be in this mess.

Going into this latest concert, I have no idea what I am going to be hearing. Does Green Day even know what rocks on their new albums? I sure hope so. Green Day is a fan's band - they have a core demographic that loves them to death, and the new trilogy is squarely aimed at those 600,000 fans.

But we have been here before. Green Day was on a crash course in the early 2000's as well, and we all know where American Idiot eventually landed them. This latest trilogy is not entirely terrible, but combined with some public relations woes, certainly ends up being a blemish on Green Day's otherwise fantastic complexion.

Just like the cross eyed girl that I am hoping stuns at prom, I am hoping that Green Day comes out swinging in a couple weeks - and for God's sake, stay focused, guys.

B3 out.