GREEN DAY!!!
Emily and I left our house around 7am and we got to the arena at 8:15ish. Emily worried me on the way there when she was like, "You know people have probably been lined up since 3am. It's Green Day," but when we got there only three guys were in line. We talked to them for a while and then two other girls showed up. They were really nice and no one else showed up for a good amount of time, so we all hung out together. People finally started to show up around 10, but it wasn't that many people. Tour buses had been driving around all day, but I knew none of them were Green Day because they were in town the night before. Around noon these two girls (Jenn and Jess) came up and asked if they could get in line with us because they had gotten to the arena at 6:45 that morning, but security had told them to get off the premises, so we let them. At like 1 I left and went to buy a pizza for everyone to eat because me, Emily, Jess, and Jenn hadn't eaten like all day. After a while I realized that I needed to check to see if they had gotten me and Emily's tickets in (the other three times I checked they hadn't) and they did.
At 4 Chris, Green Day's assistant tour producer, comes over to me and asked if anyone had a Verizon Wireless phone, but none of us did. His second question was who had their tickets and all of us did. He gave about thirty people soundcheck passes and when he handed me mine I shrieked. I was in absolute shock that I was going to get to see GREEN DAY sound check. I did not know that my vocal chords could make that noise, haha. We had to fill out some paperwork and then Chris took us inside. We got our wristbands for the to go on the floor and once everyone was inside we went to the plaza level of the arena and waited for like 20 minutes for the band to get on stage. Once they were all on another guy took us to the first two rows of seats off of general admission on the side of the stage. I had the closest seat to the stage, so I was freaking out inside. They started to play the intro to "The Saints Are Coming," but they stopped when we all sat down. They played "King For A Day," "American Eulogy," "21st Century Breakdown," and "The Static Age." Billie was doing like crowd participation stuff and making us clap, it was fun. Him and Mike would walk over to our side of the stage and play for us. After those four songs Billie said something about practicing a few songs without us in there which bummed me out, but it was cool. Tré came over by us with the drum sticks he had been playing. I like pleaded with him to give them to me and all of a sudden he tossed them right to me. I was in shock. I told him thank you and he flashed me this HUGE smile and was like, "Of course. Now get outta here!" Everyone kept asking me if they could have one, but I gave one to Emily. Chris took us to the Bacardi Lounge to hang out until the doors opened. They had snacks, Rockband, and photos. It was so cool. While we were walking there I could hear them playing "The Saints Are Coming" and I figured that's why they wanted us to leave so that it could be a surprise. We hung out in the lounge for about an hour and then Chris told us that we were about to be able to go to the floor and stand where we wanted to.
As soon as we were allowed to go every single one of us ran as fast as we possibly could until we got stopped by a line of security guards and then as soon as we got past them we began running until we were stopped again. I got a nearly perfect spot on the corner of the barricade (the corner of the stage and the catwalk) basically in front of Billie Joe and to the left of Mike. Kaiser Chiefs were the openers and they were so good. I had heard of them before and their song "Ruby" is one of my favorites, but I didn't realize how great they were going to be. They are so full of energy and even though I only knew the words to one song I had a lot of fun watching them. During one of their songs a whole brass band came out and played with them and Tré (who was running around in a mask and cape) and Mike came out too. Billie was watching from the side and laughing the whole time. It looked like a whole mess of mass chaos and total epicness on one stage. It was awesome. They played for maybe forty-five minutes and then it was time for Green Day!!
I was so excited that I started to get nauseous. As soon as they walked on stage it was like there was nothing else in the world. All I could focus on was that after YEARS of waiting I was finally getting to see the band that change my life and pretty much saved my life. I really couldn't believe it. I was basically transfixed. As many concerts as I've been to I have never seen a force on stage quite like Billie Joe Armstrong. It's like he has the whole crowd under some spell and he doesn't let go the entire time. Mike, Tré, and the Jason[s] White and Freese (their backup members) are just as amazing. I LOVE it when Mike sings. There were times when I couldn't stop staring at them. [Here come stories of "interaction" with the band members.] At one point I was looking at Jason White for a while and all of a sudden he looked up at me and we stared at each other for a few seconds and then he grinned really big at me. It was nice, but Emily and I caught him looking at me different times throughout the concert, which was kind of weird, but still...it was great. And then I was looking at Tré and out of nowhere he looks straight at me from under one of his cymbals and give me his crazy eyes. Mike started throwing out picks and I reached my hand out for one and he looked at me sympathetically and goes, "I don't think it's going to happen," because of how I had to reach over other people. But he took the one he had bee playing and intentionally threw it on the ground and the band's body guard handed it to me. When all of this was happening I was like 'asdfghjkl;!@#%^&&*' inside.
Their set is so fun. They pull people up on stage and get them to sing and play guitar. They're pretty much the only band I've ever seen do that. They pulled this eight year old girl up and she didn't know where she was from; they pulled this girl up to sing "Longview" and she was so excited that she pretty much couldn't talk and she just kept hugging Billie and started kissing his face (ewwww); they pulled another person up to sing the second verse of "Longview" and he did really well and at the end of his verse he was like, "I was you all to scream this with me, I'M FROM ALABAMA!!" and Billie was like, "Get your Alabama ass off of my stage!" It was awesome. When they played "The Saints Are Coming" everyone went insane. Billie talked about how they hadn't played it since they played it at the Dome back in '06 (I was there!) and New Orleans was the only city that they would ever play it in. Their set lasted for a good two and a half hours and they had maybe a three minute break the entire time before the "encore" which was like six more songs. When they played "Minority" there were canons shooting confetti and it was like snow where I was standing. The confetti was like an inch and a half thick on the ground at the end of the song. After "Minority" it was just Billie and his acoustic. He played the beginning of "Wake Me Up When September Ends" which made me sob because it reminds me of my dad. All of the security guards were making sure I was okay. They were so nice. Then he went into "Good Riddance" which was absolutely breathtaking. It was so good. Their entire set was phenomenal, but that's really not even the right adjective to describe it. I don't think there is a word in the English language that could describe how amazing they were. It was hands down the best concert I've been to and not only because they are my favorite bands, but because they are genuinely amazing musicians, performers, and people. I am beyond ecstatic that I got to see them because they were truly amazing and they gave me the best day of my life. I don't think anything could top it.
In the lounge
Emily and I waiting on barricade
Emily, Chris, and I with some of the girls we met
Emily and I with the drum sticks I caught
Check me out in the bottom right corner, haha. I guess you could technically say I have a picture with Billie Joe, right?
Technically it's not a set list, but it's the pyrotechnic cues. And it's from Orlando show and has three songs missing from it.
Mike's pick
Tré's drum stick
SOUNDCHECK PASS :)
I didn't take any photos of my own 1) because the Arena doesn't allow cameras and 2) even though I could have snuck one in, Billie Joe doesn't like it when people take pictures during shows because he'd rather people enjoy the show and have the memories rather than focusing on taking photos all night.
And come to find out, Brad Pitt was sitting in the same section and my mom and her boyfriend, haha.
At 4 Chris, Green Day's assistant tour producer, comes over to me and asked if anyone had a Verizon Wireless phone, but none of us did. His second question was who had their tickets and all of us did. He gave about thirty people soundcheck passes and when he handed me mine I shrieked. I was in absolute shock that I was going to get to see GREEN DAY sound check. I did not know that my vocal chords could make that noise, haha. We had to fill out some paperwork and then Chris took us inside. We got our wristbands for the to go on the floor and once everyone was inside we went to the plaza level of the arena and waited for like 20 minutes for the band to get on stage. Once they were all on another guy took us to the first two rows of seats off of general admission on the side of the stage. I had the closest seat to the stage, so I was freaking out inside. They started to play the intro to "The Saints Are Coming," but they stopped when we all sat down. They played "King For A Day," "American Eulogy," "21st Century Breakdown," and "The Static Age." Billie was doing like crowd participation stuff and making us clap, it was fun. Him and Mike would walk over to our side of the stage and play for us. After those four songs Billie said something about practicing a few songs without us in there which bummed me out, but it was cool. Tré came over by us with the drum sticks he had been playing. I like pleaded with him to give them to me and all of a sudden he tossed them right to me. I was in shock. I told him thank you and he flashed me this HUGE smile and was like, "Of course. Now get outta here!" Everyone kept asking me if they could have one, but I gave one to Emily. Chris took us to the Bacardi Lounge to hang out until the doors opened. They had snacks, Rockband, and photos. It was so cool. While we were walking there I could hear them playing "The Saints Are Coming" and I figured that's why they wanted us to leave so that it could be a surprise. We hung out in the lounge for about an hour and then Chris told us that we were about to be able to go to the floor and stand where we wanted to.
As soon as we were allowed to go every single one of us ran as fast as we possibly could until we got stopped by a line of security guards and then as soon as we got past them we began running until we were stopped again. I got a nearly perfect spot on the corner of the barricade (the corner of the stage and the catwalk) basically in front of Billie Joe and to the left of Mike. Kaiser Chiefs were the openers and they were so good. I had heard of them before and their song "Ruby" is one of my favorites, but I didn't realize how great they were going to be. They are so full of energy and even though I only knew the words to one song I had a lot of fun watching them. During one of their songs a whole brass band came out and played with them and Tré (who was running around in a mask and cape) and Mike came out too. Billie was watching from the side and laughing the whole time. It looked like a whole mess of mass chaos and total epicness on one stage. It was awesome. They played for maybe forty-five minutes and then it was time for Green Day!!
I was so excited that I started to get nauseous. As soon as they walked on stage it was like there was nothing else in the world. All I could focus on was that after YEARS of waiting I was finally getting to see the band that change my life and pretty much saved my life. I really couldn't believe it. I was basically transfixed. As many concerts as I've been to I have never seen a force on stage quite like Billie Joe Armstrong. It's like he has the whole crowd under some spell and he doesn't let go the entire time. Mike, Tré, and the Jason[s] White and Freese (their backup members) are just as amazing. I LOVE it when Mike sings. There were times when I couldn't stop staring at them. [Here come stories of "interaction" with the band members.] At one point I was looking at Jason White for a while and all of a sudden he looked up at me and we stared at each other for a few seconds and then he grinned really big at me. It was nice, but Emily and I caught him looking at me different times throughout the concert, which was kind of weird, but still...it was great. And then I was looking at Tré and out of nowhere he looks straight at me from under one of his cymbals and give me his crazy eyes. Mike started throwing out picks and I reached my hand out for one and he looked at me sympathetically and goes, "I don't think it's going to happen," because of how I had to reach over other people. But he took the one he had bee playing and intentionally threw it on the ground and the band's body guard handed it to me. When all of this was happening I was like 'asdfghjkl;!@#%^&&*' inside.
Their set is so fun. They pull people up on stage and get them to sing and play guitar. They're pretty much the only band I've ever seen do that. They pulled this eight year old girl up and she didn't know where she was from; they pulled this girl up to sing "Longview" and she was so excited that she pretty much couldn't talk and she just kept hugging Billie and started kissing his face (ewwww); they pulled another person up to sing the second verse of "Longview" and he did really well and at the end of his verse he was like, "I was you all to scream this with me, I'M FROM ALABAMA!!" and Billie was like, "Get your Alabama ass off of my stage!" It was awesome. When they played "The Saints Are Coming" everyone went insane. Billie talked about how they hadn't played it since they played it at the Dome back in '06 (I was there!) and New Orleans was the only city that they would ever play it in. Their set lasted for a good two and a half hours and they had maybe a three minute break the entire time before the "encore" which was like six more songs. When they played "Minority" there were canons shooting confetti and it was like snow where I was standing. The confetti was like an inch and a half thick on the ground at the end of the song. After "Minority" it was just Billie and his acoustic. He played the beginning of "Wake Me Up When September Ends" which made me sob because it reminds me of my dad. All of the security guards were making sure I was okay. They were so nice. Then he went into "Good Riddance" which was absolutely breathtaking. It was so good. Their entire set was phenomenal, but that's really not even the right adjective to describe it. I don't think there is a word in the English language that could describe how amazing they were. It was hands down the best concert I've been to and not only because they are my favorite bands, but because they are genuinely amazing musicians, performers, and people. I am beyond ecstatic that I got to see them because they were truly amazing and they gave me the best day of my life. I don't think anything could top it.
In the lounge
Emily and I waiting on barricade
Emily, Chris, and I with some of the girls we met
Emily and I with the drum sticks I caught
Check me out in the bottom right corner, haha. I guess you could technically say I have a picture with Billie Joe, right?
Technically it's not a set list, but it's the pyrotechnic cues. And it's from Orlando show and has three songs missing from it.
Mike's pick
Tré's drum stick
SOUNDCHECK PASS :)
I didn't take any photos of my own 1) because the Arena doesn't allow cameras and 2) even though I could have snuck one in, Billie Joe doesn't like it when people take pictures during shows because he'd rather people enjoy the show and have the memories rather than focusing on taking photos all night.
And come to find out, Brad Pitt was sitting in the same section and my mom and her boyfriend, haha.