I've seen Green Day before. Back in 2005, when I was just getting into music and guitar, I saw them at Giants Stadium on the American Idiot tour. This night was gonna be a little different. For starters, I knew just about every song they were going to play. And second, no parental guidance. Awesome. So, my friend Pete and I arrive at Madison Square Garden in New York City with seats in section 211. Not bad. We entered the stadium with... well... no seats. Actually. We traded outside with a couple who didn't want to be "crushed by teenage boys". So now we have general admission seats. Pretty cool, right?
After getting a pretzel and a soda we entered the arena and realized just how close we were. The air smelt like body odor, alcohol, and pot and the Kaiser Chiefs were on and playing that song that goes something like "You sir, Take my temperature...". They were good and put on a pretty cool show. Very energetic. They left the stage with a nice applause from the New York crowd. They deserved so. We hung around a little and listened to the Clash, Who, Michael Jackson, and other bands over the PA system. We were visited by the Drunk Pink Bunny, a sight I remember from the American Idiot show. He came out dressed with a 21st Century Breakdown t-shirt and two beers. He stumbled around the stage and danced to "YMCA" and left after maybe ten minutes. The Ramones' "Rock N' Roll Radio" blared through the PA before the lights went out and the crowd went crazy.
Tre Cool and the rest of the band appeared as "Song of the Century" ended and picked up their gear. They quickly ran into title track "21st Century Breakdown" and the mosh pit broke out. During "Know Your Enemy", Billie left the stage and went walking around the audience. Upon coming back, he pulled a teenager out of the pit and onto the stage, inviting him to sing with him. The two sang a few lines before the teen stage dived, getting a laugh from Billie Joe. The next song was a bit of a surprise. I had been monitering the setlists throughout the tour and wasn't expecting what came next. Billie approached the mic and shouted "MURDER CITY!".
After "Murder City"s first appearance on the tour, Green Day ran through "East Jesus Nowhere" (in which Billie pulled up a young boy and declared he was going to be cleansed), "Holiday", and "The Static Age". Jason White pulled out a black Gibson Les Paul and began playing the hypnotic intro to "Before the Lobotomy". As Jason played, Billie Joe stated "It's story time..." and began telling the story about the preserved head "Sleepy" whom the band slept with many many years ago. He dedicated "Before the Lobotomy" to Sleepy and even changed the line "Christian sang the eulogy" to "Sleepy sang the eulogy". Next on the setlist was "Are We the Waiting", "St. Jimmy", and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" off of American Idiot. After "Boulevard", Billie prompted Mike and Jason not to switch guitars and began to cover the song "A Quick One (While He's Away)" by the Who.
The next section of the set was amazing. After their Who cover the band began fan favorite "Hitchin' A Ride". Halfway through the song, Billie went out on the catwalk, put the mic stand between his legs and made some moaning sounds. He told the crowd to make crazy noises, returned to the main stage, stood up on a speaker and shouted "How many old school Green Day fans do we have tonight?". The crowd cheered and Billie screamed "WELCOME TO PARADISE!" and cut "Hitchin' A Ride" short. After that came two more covers ("Eye of the Tiger" and "Stop, Drop, and Roll" by Foxboro Hot Tubs). Billie then asked the crowd if they'd like to hear "F.O.D". "When I Come Around" came after that and "Going to Pasalacqua" from their debut album 1039 Smooth. Billie then decided to try "Stuart and the Ave." but four or so lines in he forgot the lines. "I fucked up," he said, " Hey! I played 'Pasalacqua' for you! Um... how bout 'Who Wrote Holden Caufield?'. That's my favorite song from Kerplunk!." And off they went through "Holden Caufield".
Billie Joe led the band through a bar or two of Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" before playing a Green Day classic "Brain Stew" and "Jaded". Billie went to the side of the stage and pulled out a tobacco sunburst Strat, approached the mic and said "This is an Operation Ivy cover", and began playing "Knowledge". After the guitar solo, Billie and Mike patrolled the stage looking to pick people out of the pit to play guitar, bass, and drums. They succeeded, and the lucky kid playing bass got a bass from Mike Dirnt. They continued the show with "Basket Case" (after which Billie Joe tossed his Stratocaster up into the air) and "She", both off of the breakthrough album Dookie.
Green Day decided it was time to dress up as they began playing "King for a Day". Saxophone player Jason Freese came on stage dressed as Michael Jackson (white glove and everything). The band then did something I remember so well from that show four years ago as they changed from "King" to "Shout". As they quieted the crowd down and Billie humped the floor, he began singing lines from "Earth Angel", "Christie Road", and the Jackson 5's "I'll Be There". Green Day closed their regular set with new single "21 Guns" (accompanied by great fireworks during the solo) and "American Eulogy".
They were off the stage for maybe 5 minutes before coming back out and playing "American Idiot". They ran through their rock anthem and then played the nine minute long "Jesus of Suburbia". During "Dearly Beloved", Billie invited a young woman out of the pit to come sing the two verses before led off stage. On his black Les Paul Jr. Billie began the intro to "Minority". On the screen behind the band it flashed the words "Minority", "Authority", and "Majority". During the instrumental fill, Jason White came out and did a sax solo and Billie did a little guitar solo. The band walked off stage and again, this time, only Billie came back out.
He walked onto the catwalk with his acoustic guitar and began playing "Macy's Day Parade". A song which thrilled my friend Pete, his favorite song of the night. After that he played "Tell Me When to Say I Love You" and finally finished the night with "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)".
We left the stadium with a feeling of euphoria and amazement. I had just witnessed a rock band that blew me away. Amazed me. Captivated my mind. And had me hanging on every word. Nothing could have made that night any better. It was simply amazing. The greatest show I have ever been to.
SETLIST:
"Song of the Century" "21st Century Breakdown" "Know Your Enemy" "Murder City" "East Jesus Nowhere" "Holiday" "The Static Age" "Before the Lobotomy" "Are We the Waiting" "St. Jimmy" "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" "A Quick One (While He's Away)" (Who cover) "Hitchin' A Ride" "Welcome to Paradise" "Stop, Drop, and Roll" (Foxboro Hot Tubs cover) "Eye of the Tiger" (Surviver cover) "F.O.D" "When I Come Around" "Going to Pasalacqua" "Stuart and the Ave." "Who Wrote Holden Caufield" "Iron Man" (Black Sabbath cover) "Brain Stew" "Jaded" "Knowledge" (Operation Ivy cover) "Basket Case" "She" "King for a Day" "Shout" (with lines from "Earth Angel", "Christie Road", and "I'll Be There") "21 Guns" "American Eulogy"
ENCORE:
"American Idiot" "Jesus of Suburbia" "Minority"
ENCORE 2:
"Macy's Day Parade" "Tell Me When to Say I Love You" "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)"
dude thats wild! a lot of stuff u said sounded familiar from when i seen them, such as rock n roll radio playing on the pa before they came out. my favorite when i seen them play, was the title track 21st century breakdown, the second half really got me going! i can't believe u got to hear Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?, very jealous about that. when i seen them, the openers, the bravery, covered it and that was cool but obviously it'd b cooler to hear green day do it. glad u had fun, their shows r fabulous, hopefully ill go to more through the years, hopefully u will too!
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