"Can you hear the sound of hysteria?" (Green Day concert)
Sep 14 '05 (Updated Feb 11 '06)
The Bottom Line .
It was the most exciting event of my life -- at least since June -- and we were late! As we inched along to the Wachovia Center, located in a part of Philly only a native could love, many thoughts ran through my mind. Hm, I wonder if I'd survive if I jumped out of the car and walked the rest of the way, followed by Damn these childproof locks! Then a break where I sang along (silently, of course -- there were other people in the car) to a Pearl Jam tune. Then, An eyepatch would really validate my Cap'n Liz identity. Would potential employers frown on that?
And so on, until we finally entered the stadium, something like twenty minutes late, and were greeted by the sounds of "Work" by Jimmy Eat World, the night's opening act. I surged ahead, leading the way in spite of having no clue where I was going, because was not about to let New Found Glory be my latest opening act memory, dammit! Fortunately, I somehow ended up in a seat and was able to enjoy the rest of JEW's set. They were amazing, especially for an opening act, even making me appreciate "23", a song I'd considered one of the weakest on Futures. The highlights from what I saw were, of course, huge Bleed American singles "The Middle" and "Sweetness," though I'm sure "Pain" was excellent too. Sadly, they left us much too quickly, ignoring my shout of "Don't go!"
After an intermission which was longer than the opening act, the big drinking dancing pink bunny that is a staple of all Green Day shows came out, danced to "Y.M.C.A.", and generally got the crowd pumped up. Perhaps I was still sad about the fact that the only T-shirt I'd wanted came in Extra Small, but for some reason, the bunny failed to excite me. Luckily, Green Day finally came out to the 2001 theme and launched right into an energetic version of "American Idiot." They followed that up with four tracks from the album of the same name -- "Jesus of Suburbia," "Holiday," "Are We the Waiting," and "St. Jimmy" -- which makes sense because it is their latest and most popular. They sound even better live than they do on record, and I liked the little touches like changing the California in "The representative from California has the floor" to Pennsylvania.
Of course, there was still time for lots of tried-and-true crowd-pleasers, most notably "Longview," the frighteningly accurate slacker anthem, and "Hitchin' a Ride," which was interrupted so Billie Joe could try to recapture the lost fun in masturbation. (Someone later said to me that the show should have only been for 18 year olds and over because of that, to which I replied, "Yeah, cuz people under 18 never jerk off.")
Another highlight was "King For A Day," which found the band members donning goofy hats and, in Billie Joe's case, a cape and crown, singing bits of "Shout" before lying down on the stage and switching to "Stand By Me", then back to "Shout." It was obvious the guys were having a lot of fun (either that, or they're great actors), and that enthusiasm affected the audience. The band's interaction with the crowd went beyond simple "Say hey-oh"s (though there were plenty of those). They used water guns to soak their fans (those who were close enough to the stage, anyway), and they even formed a band made up of members of the audience. The only requirement was, you had to know how to play three chords.
After other Green Day classics like "Basket Case," "She," and "Minority," and an emotional "Wake Me Up When September Ends," dedicated to the people in New Orleans, the band left the stage. Those who hadn't seen Green Day before took this as their opportunity to sit down for a break, while the rest of us rabid fans started chanting "Green! Day! Green! Day!" The place erupted in wild cheering when the band came out for an encore consisting of (I think) "Maria," HUGE single "Boulevard of Broken Dreams," an awesome rendition of "We Are the Champions," and an electric version of "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)." Lots of fireworks and explosions and stuff ensued, along with a blast of confetti that didn't reach our side of the arena (I knew I should have saved the confetti I collected at the last show).
Then it was over. Mike waved and looked directly at me (okay, maybe not), the lights came on, I unstuck my feet from the pile of soda the kids next to me had spilled, and we headed out, knowing this experience was something we'd remember long after September ends.
Further reading:
American Idiot - Green Day
Futures - Jimmy Eat World
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
brendan2
|
 in Movies |
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Liz
Location: sitting on a cornflake
Reviews written: 248
Trusted by: 240 members
About Me:
slowly returning from vacation
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.