With its last two albums, 2004’s American Idiot and 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown (and the recent American Idiot Broadway musical), Green Day has become one of contemporary rock’s most entertaining and opinionated bands. Regardless of where you stand in the ongoing debate of how punk the band is, there’s no denying the talent and charisma that has gone into these rock operas. And anyone who saw the band’s live show during its 2009-2010 21st Century Breakdown World Tour knows that there is still something akin to punk rock energy in the band’s explosive performances backed by over-the-top stage antics and visual displays.

Featuring tracks recorded during this tour, Awesome As F**k captures that energy, which has now crossed generational barriers as well as geographic ones. Though you wouldn’t be able to tell it by the cohesiveness of this live album, each of the 17 tracks on Awesome As F**k was recorded at a different show, with locales ranging from Glasgow and Berlin to New York and Brisbane. While the album is heavy on newer material, including “21st Century Breakdown,” “21 Guns,” “American Idiot” and “Know Your Enemy” (the current theme song for WWE‘s Friday night SmackDown show on Syfy), there are also some older favorites such as “Burnout,” “When I Come Around,” “She” and the previously unreleased “Cigarettes and Valentines,” one of several lost tracks recorded between 2000’s Warning and American Idiot.

One thing that is apparent on Awesome As F**k is Green Day’s (and particularly front man Billie Joe Armstrong’s) love for performing and entertaining the fans. Thankfully missing from the album, however, is the extended medley of Benny Hill-like inanity that tends to erupt during the band’s performances of “King for a Day,” which includes an extended cover of the Isley Brothers’ “Shout.” Without that, Awesome As F**k extracts only the high points of a live Green Day experience, leaving the other tomfoolery for those who actually made it to one of the shows.

The live CD was released by Reprise Records on March 22 with an accompanying DVD recorded in Japan that matches up almost track-for-track with the CD, with the addition of the band’s cover of The Who’s “My Generation” and the same Phoeniz, Ariz. recording of “Cigarettes and Valetines” that appears on the CD. A pink vinyl version was also released on Adeline Records on April 26 that includes an exclusive T-shirt.

For more information, go to www.greenday.com.