Green Day Offers A Roving Art Gallery At Each U.S. Tour Venue

Green Day have a special treat in store for fans attending their U.S. tour this summer. A roving art gallery will be set up at each venue to display work by a collection of eclectic artists from around the world, each of whom has been asked to create an original piece inspired by a track on Green Day's new album 21st Century Breakdown.

The show is curated by New York-based stencil artist and die-hard punk-rock fan Logan Hicks, whose portraits of band members Billie Joe Armstrong, Tre Cool, and Mike Dirnt will also be on display. A passionate art and music lover, Hicks has assembled an impressive group of noted artists - including world-renowned New York-based painter Ron English, Amsterdam-based street artists The London Police, French stencil artist C215, and British illustrator Will Barras - to show the connection between music and art.

"I chose artists whom I felt had a similar visual approach to art as Green Day does to its music," Hicks says. "Although most of the artists represented are well-established in their careers, they embrace the same emotional rawness with their art, which speaks from the heart and swings with the fist. Their subject matter is struggle and injustice-they shoot from the hip and their art is their weapon."

"We are really excited to be touring with this incredible show," says Armstrong. "Seeing the pieces that our new album has inspired is very exciting. Many of the artists Logan has chosen show their work on the street, and we feel a strong connection to that type of creative expression. We think the fans coming out to see us on the road will love it."

Green Day's 2009 trek is the band's first proper tour of the United States and Canada in more than three years. The tour began July 3rd at Seattle's Key Arena and will cross North America through the summer, including a July 27th stop at New York City's Madison Square Garden before finishing up with a show at the Forum in Los Angeles on August 25th. Please visit http://www.greenday.com/ for all cities, venues, and ticket on-sale dates.

Green Day is also set for a new musical based on their best-selling album 'American Idiot.' Michael Mayer, the Tony Award-winning director of Spring Awakening, will begin work on this play. The project is scheduled to make its debut in September 2009 at the Berkeley Repertory Theater in California.

The musical will be a collaboration between Green Day - the Bay Area rock trio consisting of Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool - and Mayer. Mayer and Armstrong spoke to Rolling Stone about the upcoming rock musical. To read the full article click here