Bullet In A Bible (CD/DVD, Jewel Case) | 
| Artist: Green Day
Label: Reprise / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $24.98
Buy Used: $5.90
You Save: $19.08 (76%)
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Rating:  160 reviews
Sales Rank: 3515
Format: Explicit Lyrics, Live
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 2
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.6
MPN: 49466
UPC: 093624946625
EAN: 0093624946625
ASIN: B000B8QF14
Release Date: November 15, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | American Idiot | | • | Jesus of Suburbia | | • | Holiday | | • | Are We The Waiting | | • | St. Jimmy | | • | Longview | | • | Hitchin' A Ride | | • | Brain Stew | | • | Basket Case | | • | King for a Day/Shout | | • | Wake Me Up When September Ends | | • | Minority | | • | Boulevard of Broken Dreams | | • | Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
From Amazon.co.uk
If you're wondering how Green Day managed to become the biggest punk band in the world, take a look at Bullet in a Bible. Recorded at their June 2005 two-night run at Milton Keynes National Bowl in England, this combined CD/DVD sees these former bong-hitting Californian dropouts embracing political activism, pantomime hilarity, and all the fripperies of a rock opera--and excelling at all three.The first half is essentially a run-through of the group's 2004 album American Idiot, complete with anti-American rabble-rousing and a set of barbed insults tossed back at the "rednecks" across the pond. That out of the way, the band careen into a sort of greatest-hits set, with the likes of "Longview" and "Hitchin' a Ride" sharing space with a brass-laden "King for a Day" that sees Billie Joe Armstrong prancing around the stage in crown and ermine cape, singing snatches of Lulu's "Shout" and Eric Idle's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life." Tremendously silly, but Green Day have managed to figure out how to play it like showmen without resorting to juvenile puerility or morphing into corporate yes-men, and that's a way harder trick than it looks. --Louis Pattison
Album Description
Featuring Green Day's first live DVD, the CD + DVD Bullet in a Bible captures the explosive band on the biggest tour in its career, in support of the Grammy-winning, quadruple-platinum, #1 charting American Idiot punk-rock epic. From two performances filmed in June 2005 before 65,000 fans, both in Milton Keynes in England, to the DVD's documentary segments following the band members around that city as they visit a war museum and various pubs, and share in-depth insights on the making and meaning of American Idiot, Green Day is #1 with a Bullet in a Bible. DVD: Video of the performance with documentary behind-the-scenes footage
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| Customer Reviews: Read 155 more reviews...
 Is There A Better Live Band Still Touring Today?! November 29, 2005
Mr. Censored (Maine)
48 out of 53 found this review helpful
You had to figure that Green Day couldn't let their biggest year, 2005, pass by without some sort of celebration. Their great come-back album, 2004's "American Idiot" was not only massively successful and dominant over the radio, but was easily the most interesting and inspiring piece of music to come out of that year as well. So, in comes "Bullet In A Bible," a DVD/CD set that covers Green Day's biggest show to date, a two-day concert at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes where they played to over 130,000 English fans.
The concert/documentary runs at about two-hours long, and spliced in between each song are interviews and behind the scenes footage that document Green Day's rise back to the top and the nervousness that comes with playing to such a large crowd. As far as the performance, the boys are on top of their game. I saw them back in April, and let me tell you: it was the best concert I have ever been to, and I have a hard time imagining any concert I go to in the future being that good. They play roughly the same set that they did for the U.S. "American Idiot" tour, with a few differences. One noticeable omission is their popular cover of Queen's "We Are The Champions." "She," "Maria" and "Knowledge," the song where they bring fans onstage to play, are also missing as well. But what is here is superb. The band blows through nearly the first half of the "American Idiot" album, saving "Boulevard Of Broken Dreams" for the encore, and then gets into some choice older material such as "Longview" and "Minority." "King For A Day" is fused with a cover of "Shout," which is just brilliant (although Billie skips the floor-humping here that he did for us). The final song, "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)" has Billie Joe going solo with an electric guitar and freshening up a song that got played to death in it's day. It was worth buying this set just to have that version on the audio-CD that is included.
My only gripe with this performance/documentary is Samuel Bayer's direction. I love his videos, especially all he's done for Green Day, but he overdoes it with his direction for the concert. The cameras dart around way to fast, and he inserts so many unneccessary and distracting effects. He complicates something that should have been fairly simple and straight-forward: letting the viewer watch one of the best acts of our generation. But the fact remains, this is Green Day at their best. This concert is a monster, and they pack so much energy into each song, it's hard not to be moved. I was a little disappointed that more "American Idiot" stuff (i.e. Music videos, making-of) wasn't included, but I'm sure that stuff'll surface one day.
Not bad but could've been better, in particular the DVD November 16, 2005
Paul Allaer (Cincinnati)
67 out of 81 found this review helpful
CD: 4.5 stars; DVD: 3.5 stars
At the conclusion of the ennormously successful "American Idiot" tour, Green Day now releases it's first full-length live album. To entice fans even more, this comes as a CD/DVD combo package.
First the CD: "Bullit in a Bible" (14 tracks, 65 min.) is evenly divided between 7 A.I. tracks and 7 selections from the past. The band sounds really tight and arena-sized, and the sound quality of the CD is outstanding. Favorite tracks for me include "Holiday", "Longview", "Brain Stew", "Basket Case", and "Wake Me Up When September Ends". At 65 min., why didn't they squeeze in two or three more songs, but in the end this is a very enjoyable performance. The DVD is another story altogether (the tracklist of the DVD is listed above in the Amazon listing). Two major complaints: rather than having the show in one section and the interviews with the band in another section, they are all intermixed, severely testing the continuity of the show. Even worse is the incessant editing of the show: the picture shifts to another angle just about every few seconds. I know this is the MTV age of short attention spans, but come on! After a while, it becomes quite annoying. Too bad, as Green Day is clearly at the top if its game musically.
In all, this is certainly not a "bad" CD/DVD combo, but it could've been even better and I know that I will not be playing the DVD all that much. But I'm glad to have the CD in my carousel!
Green Day ----- Bullet In A Bible (DVD) January 3, 2006
David Foskin (Waterford, Ireland)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Note: I received the Bullet in a Bible DVD, but not the live CD that accompanies it for review. The CD is the band's entire live performance of twenty songs. This review pertains strictly to the 115-minute DVD.
One of the band members asks a rhetorical question during some of the backstage footage, and it pretty well sums up the world's view of Green Day. "Why are there no clouds in the sky?" he asks. "Because God
wants to watch his favorite band again." Bullet in a Bible is quite possibly the thing that Green Day fans across the planet have been waiting sixteen years for. Here we have a band that has been around longer than many of their fans are old, and they're rocking even harder than they did way back when. Bullet is a look at Green Day's two performances in the Milton Keynes National Bowl in England on June 18th and 19th. They played to 130,000 fans in the two days, hailed as their biggest shows ever. The DVD covers the majority of the band's set and sprinkles in interviews with Billie Joe Armstrong (vocals, guitar), Mike Dirnt (bass), and Tre Cool (drums). The CD has the complete set, sans the interviews. It's a quite nice balance for any fan.
In the first half-hour of the DVD, the production is admittedly a bit annoying. With the camera switching, the viewer feels like he or she is in a state of sensory overload. They rotate between band members, helicopters, pit cameras, and even color versus black and white in a span of seconds. Luckily this irritating problem seems to remedy itself as the DVD continues-either that or one gets used to it.
For those wondering exactly how the DVD earned its name, there is an interview with the band at the Imperial War Museum. They walk through the museum, and one of the employees points out a Bible indeed with a bullet through it. This is one of a number of mini-features that divide up Bullet in a Bible and the bands song performances. Sometimes they're just simple interviews with the members about the upcoming song or the album or touring, and other times they're truly a behind-the-scenes look at Green Day. Drummer Tre Cool comes off as an utter goofball with his Mountie uniform and hat during the interview sessions, while Billie Joe is the focused, serious one. Mike Dirnt is most definitely the rose between two thorns. Tre, in one interview explains, "I can count to four and repeat. I'm a drummer." Armstrong later in the performance refers to him as "the best drummer in the history of rock `n roll." While these two statements are polar opposites on the exaggeration scale, he is one of my favorite drummers of all time. He's the real deal-talented, charismatic, and absolutely priceless.
The DVD has something for all walks of Green Day fans. Plenty of American Idiot finds its way into the setlist, but old favorites such as "Longview," "Basket Case," and "Minority" don't disappoint. In fact, in the years since the older songs came out, their live performance of them gives the songs a whole new life. No longer is Billie Joe Armstrong the fresh-faced kid singing about masturbation. He's the nearly middle-aged man singing about masturbation. That's the thing about Green Day; they transcend generations. During a featurette on the band's slightly nutty English fans, one mother tells the camera how her daughter grew up listening to the band because she's been a fan for so long. Their shows aren't just concerts; they're events.
Having seen one of the later dates on this tour when they came to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, I did have a bit of insight into their setlist and performance before watching Bullet in a Bible. Some might be disappointed to hear this, but Green Day choreographs 99.8 percent of their stage show, and their setlists are just about rock-solid. That means that at times the DVD comes off as overly theatrical if you've seen them on the American Idiot World Tour. What it does offer is a chance to see the band close up. You can watch the sweat pour from the band members' faces as they power through a roughly 90 minute set. You get to see Tre Cool's wacky facial expressions and drumstick tosses-all 100 or so of them. For those of us who didn't have front row seats, this was a fantastic opportunity to see them like never before.
I really enjoyed Bullet in a Bible; it's definitely a good way to spend some hard-earned cash, especially if you've never seen Green Day live. They're spectacular and just about flawless. If you can sit down and devote just under two hours to this DVD, it's worth picking up. Green Day has been around 16 years, and with performances like this, they should have no problem doing another 16.
 A Great Set, Could Have Been Better November 15, 2005
Brandi L. Miller (Ann Arbor, MI USA)
15 out of 17 found this review helpful
I thought this was an excellent DVD/CD set. I just think it could have been A LOT better.
Packaging: 4/5
I would have preferred the set to come in a typical DVD sized case as opposed to a double CD album case. Personal preference, but I think it would look better on my DVD shelf like that. The packaging is nice though. I really like the clear sleeve encasing the cardboard album packaging. The interior packaging? We'll just say it fits with the title.
CD: 5/5
The live album is exactly what one would expect from a live recording. I really don't have much to say except that of everything in this set, it was the only thing I didn't have a complaint about.
DVD: 3/5
I'll start off with the bonus features - a photo gallery. Had some very lovely photos set to the instrumentals for Boulevard of Broken Dreams. All in all, rather boring. You couldn't navigate and it spent what felt like ages on each image.
The DVD itself. The editing was excellent. There were some real creative touches with camera angles that looked like they were lifted from an old television, overhead shots, every angle you could imagine in a widescreen format. Probably the smallest of my problems with the DVD was that the documentary was interlaced between each track so you'd get a song then some behind the scenes and interview footage. The documentary was excellent. It just should have been a bonus feature and not part of the concert. The way it is was rather jarring.
The show was excellent. Just not the best one to showcase the tour, to immortalise on DVD. At least not as the only release. There's many reasons for this, and I will go into all of them. First off, it was filmed at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes. For those unfamiliar with the locale, it is in England. I think it is a great locale for filming - plenty of space for the cameras, thus giving the ability to film a large crowd and have wide, sweeping shots of the stage and audience. The National Bowl has a capacity of around 100,000 spectators. The crowd Green Day performed for the day this was filmed? 65,000. Leaving a lot of open space that was visible and stood out in the wide, sweeping shots of the stage and audience.
Continuing with filming location, by choosing somewhere outside America, you're creating a COMPLETELY different emotional atmosphere for the show. American Idiot is a very highly charged album which reflects the post 9/11 political environment here in the United States. Not that Brits don't understand, because the US is obviously not the only place to have been affected by 9/11 or other terrorist attacks, it just isn't the same. Choosing to put out this UK performance rather than a US performance made the DVD more reminiscent of seeing them in 2002 on the Pop Disaster Tour rather than in 2005 on the American Idiot Tour.
I've listened to the live recording from Leeds from 2004. Excellent recording. Excellent show. I enjoyed it. I saw the AOL Live Webcast of ther show back in September or October. Excellent show, and I could feel the political tension in it. I couldn't quite feel it in this DVD. I saw them live this tour on September 11th. Four years after the attacks. I think of all the shows to be filmed for DVD, to really capture the essence of the American Idiot Tour, it should have been that show. Not because I was there, but because of how charged the atmosphere was. I don't think I need to explain any further on that reasoning.
I also believe that an indoor arena show woul have been better than an outdoor show. A lot of the lighting effects early on in the show were lot to the fact that it was still light outside. The audience wasn't as tightly packed. While I love that there was a crowd of 65,000 - it wasn't a sold out show. While an arena show might only have fit 18,000-22,000 it would have been a tightly packed 18,000-22,000. The show's lighting and pyrotechnics would not have been lost to the daylight.
But for everything that I thought could have been better, I still found the DVD an excellent purchase and enjoyable diversion.
This is not "American Idiot Live!", but it kicks ass! November 17, 2005
Daniel Madrid (El Paso, TX via SF,CA)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
I've read many complaints about the "missing six songs." In reality, who cares! BIAB is an attempt, and a damn good one, to capture Green Day's reflections on the AI CD and tour. In other words, it is a documentary. This is a snapshot of the band at this point in time. If you are, as many of you have put it, a "Real Green Day Fan," you what take this package for what it is.
As far as the CD/DVD, it's pretty damn good. You get Billie Joe's insight on many of AI's most important tracks and you get to see the rest of the band reflecting on recording, touring, familym life, etc. You must remember that when an artist/band release a CD or DVD, in the end, it is what they would like you to see or hear. It is also, in the artists opinion, the most important and entertaining stuff they could find. Many of these complaints sound a great deal like the anti-Dookie rabble that permeated the Bay Area once Green Day hit.
BIAB's production and sound quality are awesome. While a concert DVCD cannot reproduce the concert experience, this DVD gives the viewer a great sense of being at a big time rock show. It was nice to see that GD have seem to accept that they are no longer the San Francisco club band that they once were, and take up the mantle of social conscience. While bands like The Clash and U2 have never been shy about the importance of their music, GD have always been reluctant to, in a sense, grow up. Well, the guys have grown up and into on of the great American bands of their time.
So, to those of you who are ready to label Green Day as "Sell Outs," remember your history! This has happened once before to this band and they proved all of their detractors wrong. American Idiot is a great accomplishment for GD and for the american music scene. At a time when questioning the powers that be is extremely unpopular, Green Day not only question but criticize the current administration, and in the end they made a great CD. I think one day when all of the 19 & 20 year old Green Day fans have hit thirty-something like I have they will l;ook back with fondness on to the fall of 2004 when those guys that made "Dookie" finally grew up and really had something important to say. While many of us will forget about GWB, we'll probably still be sitting in our cars, driving to work singing "Don't wann be an American Idiot!" at the top of our lungs. Green Day reminded me that music can still be loud, abrasive and have a point. I saw The Clash on the Combat Rock tour and U2 on Joshua Tree and I am glad to see three punks from San Francisco stand on stage and raise their middle fingers at the small group of billionaires that run this country. I'm not ready to bury Green day just yet.
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