Thursday, July 30, 2009
Creamtastic Dreams Really Do Come True With Green Day
Posted by Tracy Moore on Thu, Jul 30, 2009 at 10:23 AM
So, if you've been to a Green Day show in recent years--or maybe they always did this--then you already know that Billie Jo Awesome brings some unsuspecting kid onstage and lets them play guitar or sometimes it's bass with the rest of the band for a hot minute. I saw them at then-Gaylord for the American Idiot tour back in 2005 (I think that was the year), and they pulled someone onstage then too. And if you're any good, they let you keep the instrument I think.
If someone has seen Green Day pre-blitz then feel free to fill me in on those deets, but if you haven't, and if you're seeing them for the first time tomorrow night, FYI: It's an aggressively upbeat stadium show. BJA practically scales the stage, or at least paces it pretty maniacally the whole time. He insists often (as you'll see in the above clip) that people, you know, "get into it." And for me, that was strangely like attending a pep rally in high school all over again. I really like big stoopid over-the-top performances, but this one didn't really fit with my expectations for a punk band. But then again, Green Day is really a pop-rock band, so I guess therein lies the confusion.
Anyway, clip above: Madison Square Garden, three nights ago. Billie Joe Armstrong makes dream come true of teen girl with a Misfits shirt on, who aptly rules the spontaneous gig.
Comments (17)
Showing 1-17 of 17
What happened at that particular Gaylord show was one of the kids COULDN'T play, and BJA told him to keep the guitar so he could practice. It's pretty fucking cool any way you cut it, especially if you're 14.
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yeah. he's been doing that since the mid-90's.
though, he did not, much to my dismay, at the show at Municipal back in 1996 on the Insomniac tour with the Riverdales opening.
Anyone wanna miracle me for this show?
Between Tool in Atlanta, The Dead Weather at War Memorial, and getting drunk at The Pond on Saturday night I don't think I'll be able to shell out the cash for this one.
This girl seemed quite prepared for her debut performance at MSG, pretty sweet. I'll be at the show Friday, maybe they'll pick me, oh how I hope they do. I'm 28, is that past the cut-off. Also, has anyone else noticed the 2nd "movement" of this song cops the vocal melody from Motley Crue's "On With the Show?"
OMG The Riverdales. Totally forgot about them in the last 10 years. I might have to dig up some Screeching Weasel too.
Best money line from a review so far in the tour, from the Chicago Tribune:
"This was rock as participatory theater, a communal forum where emotional releases were meant to be screamed, spread and shared. No amount of bombast proved too much."
Fluffhead,
We have an extra ticket. Isn't GA but pretty damn close.
If we can't sell it for what we paid for it. (Not a penny more!) then you can go for free.
Would hate to waste and extra ticket. But it might be very last minute.
You in?
If so, let me know and I can email more information to ya...
P.s. I am wayyyy to old to be going to shows like this.
But I don't care.
Every single time I have been to a Green Day show, they play their hearts out.
I always leave a sweating mess because I have jumped and danced my ass off.
So people can hate them all they want to, but I always know I will at least get my money's worth at a GD show.
And not have to hear some little dude crying about his feelings. Or insulting me saying I have "shitty taste in music".
And the coolest part is if you did get the chance to play on stage with them.
He also has been squirting the audience with waterguns for years and will throw picks out and all kinds of other crazy stuff.
It is never dull. People may hate their music, but they probably wouldn't be going to a show anyway so who cares about them?!?
I took a younger brother to his first rock show last weekend -- Green Day in Albany and they did not disappoint. One of the best all out rock shows I've seen in a long, long time. BJA is like a young Ozzy running around that stage (though when it comes to biting the heads off of flying animals, I think Tre's your man). Highly recommend seeing them. They don't shy away from the old stuff either, they've been playing songs that go as far back as Kerplunk on this tour, with a healthy dose of Dookie and even some Insomniac thrown in. You definitely won't feel like you don't know any of the songs.
"Healthy dose of Dookie." lol.
I'm definitely looking forward to the show. Dookie was the first record I ever bought with my own money—I was in third grade, I believe—and by Brandon Valentine's account, sounds like it's going to be a nostalgic show.
I was at the show at MSG. Billie Joe asked a lot of people and obviously tried to figure out who was full of BS and who could play. He finally asked this girl, "What key is it in?" After hearing her response he said, "Get your ass up here." The girl could play, and the crowd cheered like crazy for her. Definitely a highlight of the show. That was especially nice since the previous kids he pulled on stage were terrible singers.
I hadn't seen the band in ten or 11 years so they arena-ness of the show was startling. Huge stage. Explosions. Blasts of fire. Lots of crowd participation. Rock star poses. Waterguns. Flying toilet paper. Confetti. Nearly three hours of music. The crowd was pumped nearly all of it. (I had seen them 20 years ago in Berkeley, then a few years later when they were on Lookout! That was a very different band.) The middle of the set had songs going back to early singles and pre-Reprise albums. Great to hear the early stuff, but they didn't fill the arena like the newer songs.
All in all, a really great show. Highly recommended.
it's so weird to feel nothing but total respect for a band i've hated for the entire 2nd half of their career.
Anyone else wonder what Dr. Frank would be like now if The Mr. T. Experience had been the Lookout! band to make it big instead of Green Day?
"Our friends are all busy with their own affairs / Becoming punk rock millionaires...."
"Anyone else wonder what Dr. Frank would be like now if The Mr. T. Experience had been the Lookout! band to make it big instead of Green Day?"
Or what if Bill Stevenson and Tony Lombardo were millionaires based on their contributions in inventing that style of pop-punk instead of Green Day, etc? There's no justice, I tells ya.
The original line-up of The Descendents really should be getting a portion of Blink 182's royalty checks. If there's any justice in this world then Hoppus & Co. will at least foot the Bill for Ackerman and Stevenson's convalesence. Oh what will it be like when they get old?
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