Green Day Rocks!

Okay, folks ... being that I am still without digital camera battery charger ... and hence can't get my 261 Europe pics to offload (ACK!) ... I thought I would rave about the Green Day concert last night! Because, holy criminey, those boys know how to throw one helluva par-tay!!

First off, my friends and I get there about 6:45pm (show starts at 7pm) to find The Line From Hell to get in. Seriously. If you can imagine, say, the line to get to the one candybar machine on an island teeming with 100,000 PMSing women ...... ... and double the size of the line in your head ..... your line will STILL be shorter than the one I saw last night. I kid you not.

But luckily, a security guard observed our look of despair and noted that, since we had General Admission FLOOR tickets (that's right, baby!), we didn't have to wait in TLFH but could head on over to our very own "special" entrance with The Line Of Only About Twenty People. How awesome is THAT??

So after getting searched, patted down, interrogated, hole-punched (the ticket only), wristbanded and told to show wristband AND ticket practically every ten feet ... we made it in! WHOOO HOOOOOOO.

Jimmy Eat World opened and did a great job.

Then came Green Day. A band I've enjoyed and listened to for years but for some reason have never ever seen in concert before (no, I don't know why). They rocked! And being with the crowd on the floor was AWESOME because we were ThisClose. (well, if T1 or I had a camera phone I could show you ... but for a big name band concert ... take my word for it ... we were close)

A couple of interesting tidbits:

-Pyrotechnics at a non-KISS concert?? Odd. Especially at a punk show. But yet Green Day made it work.

-Seriously, at what point did the blue lights of cell phone displays replace lighters at concerts?? Because I've seen one or two before but not the entire venue filled with these lights. Man, I'm old. It's official! (again!)

-The coolest thing: for one song ("Knowledge" ... an Operation Ivy cover?) Billie Joe stopped the show and requested a drummer, a bass player and a guitar player from the audience. He took his time selecting the three volunteers and brought them on stage. They then had to learn a couple of quick chord progressions and then Billie Joe sang the rest of the song while they played. HOLY COW ... that ROCKED! The crowd went wild! How absolutely COOL for those three folks whom are, more than likely, aspiring band members themselves. I mean, can you imagine??? Plus, the kid (I'm guessing teenager), who was chosen to be the guitar player (and who picked up the notes he was supposed to play after Billie Joe showed him it only once), just commanded the stage. He looked like he was having SUCH a great time! At the end Billie Joe let him keep the guitar. The kid was floored. It was awesome!*

Green Day played over two hours total. All awesome! For the last song of the encore, the rest of the band left the stage and Billie Joe alone played "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)". Incredible ending to an incredible show.

If they are coming to your town, do yourself a favor and go see them. I'm thinking that concert would rank in my top 10 concerts. (even though I don't have an official listing of top 10 concerts ... I'm pretty sure this would be one)

And I'm not just saying that because Billie Joe showed his bare bum. Nope, really! ;)

*I know, I know ... I've since learned that they do this at all the shows on this tour. But still, VERY cool.