[5][6] The album is composed of tracks recorded during Green Day's 2009–10 21st Century Breakdown World Tour in support of their eighth studio album 21st Century Breakdown (2009).

[8] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic remarked that Awesome as Fuck "satisfies without surprising [...] The set list is a good mix that leans heavily on Green Day's new millennium standards and the bandmembers never sound tired playing: they hit their marks with enthusiasm, which is enough to make Awesome as F**k fun, if not quite a live album for the ages.

"[9] David Fricke of Rolling Stone commented "This set is a contagious account of the power-fun streak that still runs through the band even after the two punk operas [...] Billie Joe Armstrong thoroughly enjoys his spotlight: shouting, cursing and letting audiences take whole verses of 'American Idiot' and 'Good Riddance.'

And drummer Tré Cool is way up in the mix, channeling the Clash's Topper Headon and the Who's Keith Moon with precise demonic glee.

"[15] He criticized the fact that hearing the songs played live was not that different from hearing the studio recordings, calling them "generally the same beyond Armstrong telling the crowd to sing this part or that" and remarking that Green Day's arena show is "a wonderful experience in person, but it understandably loses something in the translation to CD and DVD.