Green Day tonight @ Uptown in Oakland

[pismodiver]

Hahahhaha, good times!

[Greenday_Aussie]

Okay guys.... sorry this is so After The Fact, but I am brand-spankin'-new to the forums. I saw NME's recap/article about the Uptown show in Oakland last week, and their journalism was so crappy I was motivated to re-post my own (huge, epically long) recap from my personal journal here. Apologies in advance if I jack up the HTML or something.

Also, since I guess this is my introductory post—hi! Brief intro. Green Day fan for about 10 years, have seen them live about... errrrr... 15 times, 17 if you count the two FBHT shows I went to last year. I have also gotten to see them as FBHT (duh) and I got to see 3 of the Pinhead Gunpowder shows last year as well. So, seeing as so many of you wear the crazy pants here as well, I guess I'll fit in okay. And for everyone who was at that show but doesn't know me—hi, I'm the tall girl who was at the front of the line that Billie Joe pulled onstage.

Anyway, enough blathering. Here I go! When I posted in my journal, it was 95% recap of the Uptown show, with some commentary on the other 3 (I was lucky enough to attend all 4 Bay Area shows). I have edited it somewhat only because not everyone who reads MY journal is a Green Day fan, so all that's been cut-out is blathering on that front.

The Intro

The thing that stands out most for me about these 4 shows was how ENERGIZED the band seemed. I remember how tired and ...worn out they all seemed at the end of the American Idiot tour, when over a year of touring had clearly taken its toll on them. Which is not to say that those shows weren't amazing—they absolutely were, and I would be astonished if Billie Joe does not regularly look in the mirror and tell himself, "I have the best fucking job in the world," but there was an energy and a mischievousness at these small shows that I personally had not gotten to see before. Billie Joe sets things on fire through force of his stage personality on his worst days; this was like witnessing a nuclear blast. And the crowd responded every time.

Also, the new album. I cannot fucking wait for the new album to come out. It sounds absolutely phenomenal, and I am driving myself crazy humming clips from it that I can't hear in entirety because the damn thing's not released yet. I honestly thought, deep down, that there was no way Green Day could top American Idiot, but in this girl's opinion they outdid themselves. And their live form has definitely remained top-notch. Everyone who was nervous about the new guitarist need not have worried; they just added him for a beefier sound on certain songs. Billie Joe still spends plenty of time using the guitar—but he ALSO spends plenty of time crowd-surfing and grabbing people's hands and rubbing himself on audience members and clambering all over things on-stage, so you won't be disappointed when he ditches the guitar come the big tour, I PROMISE. Finally, I know we said it before, but the guys have clearly been drinking from the Fountain of Youth. They look so fucking fantastic.

Day of the Show

As far as Wednesday's show at the Uptown Club goes... we (my friends and I, only a few of whom post here) learned very early in the day that the show would be a first-come, first-serve, line up at the door or you don't get in, sort of deal. So (through a fantastic display of TEAM EFFORT) we coordinated our efforts in order to have a presence in the line very early in the day. And by "early," I mean "first." I abused my friend Bren over the phone (he went to bed late the night before, poor bastard) till he promised he'd go wait in line for me until I could get over there and hold down the fort for the rest of the day, and he subsequently called me to inform me that he was the damn first person in line. GO US. He is the reason we got down front on the rail.

The rest of the day passed entirely too slowly. People came and went, the line got longer, but everyone (pismodiver, greendookie311, Aud, Marisa, and Bren, plus me, obviously) had shown up by around 7ish, and by this time the band had arrived and gone inside for sound check. This was the point where one of the roadies, who apparently recognized me or something (maybe from the 3 previous shows?), or just had seen me waiting around ALL DAY, came over, opened my hand, and put 3 picks in it before closing my fingers over them and walking away. Huh. I ended up giving 2 out of 3 of them away.

We ended up getting really, really lucky—our little group got let inside by venue security a little prematurely, apparently, even before the VIP/guest list/radio station winners were allowed in, so we got front and center on the rail. I think there were also a bunch of people from the forum that I'd run into before (at the FBHT shows) whose names escape me at the moment because I am HELLA sick. Anyway, the band took FOREVER to come out (they let us in a little after 8, and it was seriously almost 10:30 by the time the band came out) but you know what? It was worth every minute.

The Show

Now here's where my life got surreal. Little segue: I tend to be SOMEWHAT memorable at concerts, due to the fact that A) I'm very tall, so I'm easy to see, and I like to be down close to the stage so that makes it even easier, and B) I'm very expressive. (This is another way of saying that I freak out like mad during concerts and am incapable of being still. I have been told how visible I am by multiple people on multiple occasions, like Derek Grant's wife—"I couldn't miss you!"—so there you have it.) That being said, I usually know when someone's seen me, because I'm tall enough I can make eye contact easily, and especially with bands I've seen a lot (read: Alkaline Trio) I usually get a smile or something from whomever's spotted me. And like I said above, while that's totally fantastic and everything, that's not the point of a concert for me.

So, due to how last-minute the Green Day concerts were (meaning I couldn't get off work ahead of time, and had to kind of wing it), for all but the last show I didn't make it to the venue early enough to be able to get inside and be down front. I still managed to get close each time, and for the Independent I was right in front of Mike's shoe, but the point that I'm (very slowly) getting to is that I did not think Billie Joe had seen me at any of the previous concerts. I know Mike and Tré did, but whatever, lots of other people in the crowd had made it to all the previous shows too; I was just glad to be there. But even when you're right in front of Billie Joe, a lot of the times it seems like he doesn't really see anyone; that he's so in the zone of performing that the audience kind of all blurs together.

This is, uh, not the case, apparently.

Being five feet from Billie Joe Armstrong while he's performing is fucking intoxicating, period. Pismodiver and Bren and I were all right down on the rail, witnessing his stage personality grow to fill the room so full that I wouldn't have been surprised if the roof had come off. So he was singing in our faces a lot, and playing guitar in our faces a lot. I was already psyched when Billie knelt down at the edge of the stage to sing (well, scream) right at my face during "Christian's Inferno" (look at the B&W picture of Billie Joe and Bono screaming into each other's faces, and you'll have it), not to mention the fact that we were so close we could see little tattoos on his fingers.

So they get to the song "Last Night On Earth" (the one I thought was called "All My Love," as that's what it was listed on the setlist I got at the Independent show), and I know most of the words at this point, because I'm madly in love with it.

(For anyone who hasn't seen it and wants to, it's this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9g3PKg9_xw )

And Billie gets about a third of the way through the song and then comes over to the edge of the stage to where Adam (greendookie311) and I are leaning over the rail. And he's reaching out his hand, and of course we reach out to touch, but instead of just doing the hand-slap thing, he actually grabs me by the hand and yanks me forward, then lets go and gestures for me to come up onstage. At this point, my brain short-circuits and approximately a dozen people (everyone around me in the pit plus the two security guards) start trying to pry me out of the crowd and fling me onstage. There's a moment where I'm positive I'm going to eat shit on the edge of the stage, and then someone grabs me by my belt before I can knock out all my expensive dental work on camera (did I mention this concert was being filmed? we still don't know for what yet though) and I scramble onstage, and Billie grabs me and pulls me against him. This is possibly the most hilarious mental image you can imagine, as I'm about 8 inches taller than him. I don't exactly know what the fuck he's trying to do, so there's a few moments where we're just... swaying around like a couple slow-dancing and he's still singing and because I don't know what the fuck else to do, I am too. Mary (Pismodiver) is screaming "TURN THE FUCK AROUND KAT!" and when we finally do, I apparently look like a deer in the headlights.

And since I know a bunch of you will ask (AND HAVE ALREADY), yes I could smell him. He smelled like beer and cologne and man-sweat and it was awesome.

Billie lets go of me, still singing (to me, to his Miller Lite, to the stage... you take your pick) and sort of goes off to one side of the stage. I turn and look at the crowd and raise both fists in my one "FUCK YEAH" moment (cue the crowd cheering), and then Billie hands me his beer. And so of course I take a goddamn drink, and throughout all of this I am so stunned I almost don't know what to do with myself, because, well: what the fuck? I hand it back to him, he swings his arm in an "off with you!" gesture, and I do a rather awkward stage-dive back into the crowd because, goddammit, I waited 9 hours outside for this damn show, I am NOT getting handed all the way to the back. Because the crowd and my friends and the guards are awesome, I get wedged right back into my spot—and there's this moment as I'm sort of wriggling back in where I'm facing away from the stage, and I can't help myself, I just dissolve into this huge childish grin and the best part is that everyone in the crowd is beaming back at me. I turn around, and just before he gets to the end of the song, Billie comes over and crouches down to give me his half-finished beer. I finish it. I'm amazed I don't choke on it, but I'm so pumped I might not have noticed anyway even if it had all gone down the wrong pipe.

At this point I'm basically totally satisfied with my life and I can die happy. I turn my head to look over at Marisa and Audrey, who promptly FREAK OUT and scream at me, and I'm screaming back, and when we all look up at stage again, Tré is cracking the fuck up at us because we are obviously retards. But the band keeps playing without a break, and they head right into "East Jesus Nowhere," previously known as "March of the Dogs," which is already one of my favorites (yes I am spoiled, I know, you don't have to tell me). But they get to the end of that song, and Billie stops and looks over at me.

"Hey! Hey, what's your name? Kat? It's Kat? Did you guys see me and Kat dancing? It was like the fuckin' prom." *strums his guitar, Mike says something that I don't catch but which cracks himself up* "I saw you in the crowd at the DNA Lounge, Kat." (At this point I can't help myself and I yell "And the Fox! And the Independent!") "Yes, and the Fox. And the Independent." *strums his guitar a little more* "This song's for Kat. It's about REVENGE." And he launches into Peacemaker.

And that, children, is why "Peacemaker/Murder City" is permanently my favorite song off the new album, even though it's not out yet.

The rest of the show is equally amazing. Mary and Bren and I wrote everything we could remember down that same night when we went to Denny's after the show for sustenance, so here's what we got.

+ The setlist they taped to the stage got basically thrown out the window, because the band decided to play whatever they felt like/the crowd wanted to hear. Their original second half of the setlist (after the new album) included "Scattered" and "Hitchin' a Ride," which we would have been delighted to hear, but they didn't end up playing them. Here's the full setlist (not quite in correct order on the last bits):

All of 21CB (then the break)

A Buzzcocks cover that I didn't recognize but that they seemed TOTALLY pleased with themselves for playing - "Ever Fallen In Love?"

American Idiot

Jesus of Suburbia

Geek Stink Breath

An attempt to play 86 which never got farther than the opening chords

Give Me Novocaine

Midwestern Medley (Surrender by Cheap Trick/Bastards of Young by the Replacements)

Basketcase

Ziggy Stardust (part of it anyway)

King For a Day/Shout

(this included covers of "California Here I Come," "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," "Earth Angel," "Suspicious Minds," and the Swanee song)

Minority

+ Geek Stink Breath was actually my idea—I'd made a sign—but I didn't have the balls to wave it in Billie Joe's face after the way he'd already called me out during the first half of the show. So Adam (being Adam) took my sign and got Billie's attention, and Billie was all, "You want to hear Geek Stink Breath?" and watched me and Adam FREAK OUT in response. And they did a fantastic job without a single hitch, something they seemed a bit surprised by. It was adorable and also, awesome.

+ They seemed very cavalier about fucking up "86," which was another crowd request that they ended up not being able to fulfill. Billie made all sorts of hilarious comments:

"Hey, YOU try writing more songs than John Lennon!..." *breaks into a huge stupid grin* "I didn't say they were good."

"We can play thirty seconds of any song! ...Except our own."

+ During break before they played Midwestern Medley, Billie went on this ramble about how supposedly all the greatest bands in the world came from the Midwest. At first he listed some legit Midwestern Bands, like Cheap Trick and the Replacements. Then he started adding people like Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Ramones, and the Beatles. Mike piped up at this point with Madonna.

Small clip of Midwestern Medley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO7i5V4USn0

+ I need to spend a minute talking about Mr. Mike Dirnt (or Michael Dirnt, as Billie introduced him). Apparently, marriage (hello, Mike's wedding ring, a foot from my face!) and fatherhood agree with him, because he looks amazing, especially now that he has his dark hair back again. We were collectively awed by his Biceps of Guh (seriously, you could severely injure yourself on this man's arms), and what was especially nice is we got to touch said biceps, because Mike decided he couldn't let Billie have all the fun, and at 2 separate points in the show, he shed his bass guitar and dove into the crowd. The first time, he didn't get far enough in for his liking, so he backed up onstage and took a running jump right over our heads. He also was clambering up and down the speakers at the side of the stage; at this point Billie told him to dive in again, so he went sailing into the crowd over by Marisa and Audrey (who had taken side-stage due to the fact that Audrey's foot was, at this show, approximately the size of Texas and the color of a Smurf from an injury). Apparently Mike loves being groped as much as Billie does. Hee.

Mike and Billie both also sprayed us with beer and water, multiple times; Bren especially was soaked by the time the show was over. Also? Mary blew Mike a kiss, and he caught it and winked at her. Why yes, yes we are big fangirls.

+ Tré is normally so on the money with his drumming that getting to watch him fuck up is actually a hilarious treat. Not all of it was his fault, though; right when they started "21st Century Breakdown," he had to stop the whole band because there was something fucked up with one of his kick-pedals, which he unceremoniously threw to one side of the stage. And later at the start of "Horseshoes and Handgrenades," there was something ELSE wrong with his drumset, so he got out from behind the set and marked time with just his two sticks, and the rest of the band obliged by doing an awesome pared-down, almost acapella version of the song for a few bars, until the drum techie had fixed the problem. It was very spontaneous and awesome. And Tré ALMOST fucked up and came in too soon on Basketcase again, but caught himself before he could really kick in.

+ There was one point during "Shout" when Mike was doing something his bass, almost like jerking it off (I missed this so my details are a little fuzzy) and then he went over to Tré and started pretending to jerk HIM off. Oh god, the Stage Gay kills me every time.

Speaking of Stage Antics, here's a clip of Billie Joe carefully unbuttoning his shirt and rubbing his nipple right in front of our freakin' faces, during "Shout." (You can't see what happens 'cause he's down onstage, but someone threw a shoe at him towards the end there.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dgJrt6toOo

What you ALSO can't see is Tré GRABBING himself by the ball (ha!) and yanking downward to help himself hit the falsetto he goes for. Dear Treseph: Never stop. And no, I don't know what that guy in the crowd said to make Mike crack up.

+ Also of note: Billie Joe grabbed the video camera from one of the guys who were filming at one point (one of the professional videographers) and kept right on singing as he filmed the crowd and then the videographer himself. It was pretty funny.

+ Jason & Jason (Jason squared!) were playing footsie/chicken with each other at the back of the stage again during King For a Day/Shout. Adorable.

+ I should also note that Billie, um, pretended to fuck his own ass with his microphone at one point, right in front of my goddamn face. (We nearly spontaneously combusted at this point.) This was in addition to all the hip-thrusting, crowd-diving, crotch-rubbing and general tomfoolery he got up to. He probably landed on me and Mary 3 or 4 times, and I know he came over and rubbed on everyone over by Marisa and Audrey a couple of times too.

+ I also want to note that while I would have been perfectly content if Billie had totally ignored me the rest of the show, he didn't; he gave me another beer at one point, and during "King For a Day" he shoved the mic in my face to let me sing ("Who put the drag in the drag queen? Don't knock it until you've tried it!"). When they were asking the crowd what they wanted to hear, I yelled for "409 in your coffee maker," and he leaned down and made me repeat myself so he could hear, but then shook his head and said they'd fuck it up too badly to play it. And at the very end of the show, after Minority, he came over to the end of the stage, put his pick in my hand, and closed my fingers over it. I want to note that Mike yelled at Adam until Adam took his baseball cap off so that Mike could lean forward and put HIS pick in Adam's hat, which was super-cool.

Mary, Bren and I all got sticks; we got MULTIPLE sticks, actually, and passed our extras out to our line-buddies who had waited faithfully with us. (The roadies were just kind of chucking all the sticks at the crowd, ow.)

+ Aaron Cometbus, like the previous 3 shows (as far as I know) was also at this show, down in the pit. After the show was over, I tracked him down to say hi, and I just want to note here that he's a really super-sweet guy. He was very friendly and easy to talk to. I told him how cool it was that he was down in the pit for all 4 shows, and he responded that he always thought it was fun for the band to actually see familiar faces in the crowd, instead of all their friends and family being hidden away sidestage or up in the VIP section. He added that even though the band tries to pretend they don't notice him (not wanting to draw attention to him) that they also snigger when they see him get kicked in the head or something. Hee!

I think that's it. Sorry it was so huge. I hope everyone enjoys it, thanks for reading if you got all the way through that monster!

I dont know why, but your fucking awesome.

[Rezurgam]

Holy shit, that was a monster post. Best review of any of the secret shows I've read.

[achtungkatie]

Holy shit, that was a monster post. Best review of any of the secret shows I've read.

Yeah, it took me a RIDICULOUSLY long time, but now I can go back and read it when I want to jog my memory. Thanks for reading through, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

[Nimrod99]

wow Achtungkatie, what an amazing recap of the show. Made me feel like I was there myself (or "there in spirit" as I like to call it). I bet you'll never forget that night as long as you live. Some of things you wrote had me cracking up. By the way, welcome to the forum. I'm a fan of over 10 years myself. I haven't seen them as many times (nor had as many memorable experiences as you), but I don't plan on stopping any time soon. Once a Green Day fan, always a Green Day fan (or at least I feel that way).

[Anja]

I saw you being pulled up on stage and I thought "Man, this girl is fucking lucky!" Good to hear that was you

I enjoyed reading your recap since I didn´t get the chance to see this show from the inside(!). Well, I´ve watched it on screen from the outside but that wasn´t even half as entertaining as seeing a GD show from the inside lol

Thanks for going into details. That helped me getting a better image of what it must have been like to be there (inside :wink:). That was a really good read!

P.S. I´ve talked to you after the show for like 1 minute but you probably can´t remember me, can you? I introduced myself as a friend of Beth. Oh, and we met in the restroom in this huge store next to the Uptown

[hardtoconcentrate]

Kat, what an awesome review. So incredibly detailed and I enjoyed reading every word of it Nice to see you on GDC! It's Leanne by the way....thanks again for helping us out so much at the Foxboro shows!x

[masshysteria1]

WOW, Kat, thank you for the recap! Sounds just like the antics at the Foxboro shows. I was afraid the boys had become too tame, no fear of that now, lol. What an amazing experience you had!

[justcause]

Kat, thanx so much for sharing your amazing experience in such great detail - and I sooo wanted to know which Bowie song they played, lol!!

[NoVaCaInE!]

That.... was THE best review on a concert i have ever read in my life. I could actually imagine myself being there just from reading that I loved the part where he pulled you on stage, fuckin awesome

Thanks for sharing with us

[Princess Consuela]

Whoa, Kat that was amazing! Thanks for posting this. I enjoyed every line in your review

[The Disappearing Boy]

wow, that was one hell of a review. thanks

[Starbug]

Holy shit, that was a monster post. Best review of any of the secret shows I've read.

I concur wholeheartedly w/ this one lol That was probably the best recap of any show I've ever read, parts had tears stinging my eyes. It's good to read something like that from a fan who managed to have a dream come true, gives hope to the rest of us That, and you appreciate what happened to you. Obviously, you drank in everything you could. From one massive GD fan to another, I'm proud you made such a beautiful memory

And welcome to the forum!

[J'net]

I think that's it. Sorry it was so huge. I hope everyone enjoys it, thanks for reading if you got all the way through that monster!

That's it? You mean you couldn't come up with anything more awesome than that?

WOW - what an incredible night and your recap with all the details is amazing . I can't wait till have time to read it again! Thanks so much for sharing!!!

[drumstick]

the only thing I want to say is that Kat is so fucking damn lucky!

[Silje Kristin]

Okay guys.... sorry this is so After The Fact, but I am brand-spankin'-new to the forums. I saw NME's recap/article about the Uptown show in Oakland last week, and their journalism was so crappy I was motivated to re-post my own (huge, epically long) recap from my personal journal here. Apologies in advance if I jack up the HTML or something.

Also, since I guess this is my introductory post—hi! Brief intro. Green Day fan for about 10 years, have seen them live about... errrrr... 15 times, 17 if you count the two FBHT shows I went to last year. I have also gotten to see them as FBHT (duh) and I got to see 3 of the Pinhead Gunpowder shows last year as well. So, seeing as so many of you wear the crazy pants here as well, I guess I'll fit in okay. And for everyone who was at that show but doesn't know me—hi, I'm the tall girl who was at the front of the line that Billie Joe pulled onstage.

Anyway, enough blathering. Here I go! When I posted in my journal, it was 95% recap of the Uptown show, with some commentary on the other 3 (I was lucky enough to attend all 4 Bay Area shows). I have edited it somewhat only because not everyone who reads MY journal is a Green Day fan, so all that's been cut-out is blathering on that front.

The Intro

The thing that stands out most for me about these 4 shows was how ENERGIZED the band seemed. I remember how tired and ...worn out they all seemed at the end of the American Idiot tour, when over a year of touring had clearly taken its toll on them. Which is not to say that those shows weren't amazing—they absolutely were, and I would be astonished if Billie Joe does not regularly look in the mirror and tell himself, "I have the best fucking job in the world," but there was an energy and a mischievousness at these small shows that I personally had not gotten to see before. Billie Joe sets things on fire through force of his stage personality on his worst days; this was like witnessing a nuclear blast. And the crowd responded every time.

Also, the new album. I cannot fucking wait for the new album to come out. It sounds absolutely phenomenal, and I am driving myself crazy humming clips from it that I can't hear in entirety because the damn thing's not released yet. I honestly thought, deep down, that there was no way Green Day could top American Idiot, but in this girl's opinion they outdid themselves. And their live form has definitely remained top-notch. Everyone who was nervous about the new guitarist need not have worried; they just added him for a beefier sound on certain songs. Billie Joe still spends plenty of time using the guitar—but he ALSO spends plenty of time crowd-surfing and grabbing people's hands and rubbing himself on audience members and clambering all over things on-stage, so you won't be disappointed when he ditches the guitar come the big tour, I PROMISE. Finally, I know we said it before, but the guys have clearly been drinking from the Fountain of Youth. They look so fucking fantastic.

Day of the Show

As far as Wednesday's show at the Uptown Club goes... we (my friends and I, only a few of whom post here) learned very early in the day that the show would be a first-come, first-serve, line up at the door or you don't get in, sort of deal. So (through a fantastic display of TEAM EFFORT) we coordinated our efforts in order to have a presence in the line very early in the day. And by "early," I mean "first." I abused my friend Bren over the phone (he went to bed late the night before, poor bastard) till he promised he'd go wait in line for me until I could get over there and hold down the fort for the rest of the day, and he subsequently called me to inform me that he was the damn first person in line. GO US. He is the reason we got down front on the rail.

The rest of the day passed entirely too slowly. People came and went, the line got longer, but everyone (pismodiver, greendookie311, Aud, Marisa, and Bren, plus me, obviously) had shown up by around 7ish, and by this time the band had arrived and gone inside for sound check. This was the point where one of the roadies, who apparently recognized me or something (maybe from the 3 previous shows?), or just had seen me waiting around ALL DAY, came over, opened my hand, and put 3 picks in it before closing my fingers over them and walking away. Huh. I ended up giving 2 out of 3 of them away.

We ended up getting really, really lucky—our little group got let inside by venue security a little prematurely, apparently, even before the VIP/guest list/radio station winners were allowed in, so we got front and center on the rail. I think there were also a bunch of people from the forum that I'd run into before (at the FBHT shows) whose names escape me at the moment because I am HELLA sick. Anyway, the band took FOREVER to come out (they let us in a little after 8, and it was seriously almost 10:30 by the time the band came out) but you know what? It was worth every minute.

The Show

Now here's where my life got surreal. Little segue: I tend to be SOMEWHAT memorable at concerts, due to the fact that A) I'm very tall, so I'm easy to see, and I like to be down close to the stage so that makes it even easier, and B) I'm very expressive. (This is another way of saying that I freak out like mad during concerts and am incapable of being still. I have been told how visible I am by multiple people on multiple occasions, like Derek Grant's wife—"I couldn't miss you!"—so there you have it.) That being said, I usually know when someone's seen me, because I'm tall enough I can make eye contact easily, and especially with bands I've seen a lot (read: Alkaline Trio) I usually get a smile or something from whomever's spotted me. And like I said above, while that's totally fantastic and everything, that's not the point of a concert for me.

So, due to how last-minute the Green Day concerts were (meaning I couldn't get off work ahead of time, and had to kind of wing it), for all but the last show I didn't make it to the venue early enough to be able to get inside and be down front. I still managed to get close each time, and for the Independent I was right in front of Mike's shoe, but the point that I'm (very slowly) getting to is that I did not think Billie Joe had seen me at any of the previous concerts. I know Mike and Tré did, but whatever, lots of other people in the crowd had made it to all the previous shows too; I was just glad to be there. But even when you're right in front of Billie Joe, a lot of the times it seems like he doesn't really see anyone; that he's so in the zone of performing that the audience kind of all blurs together.

This is, uh, not the case, apparently.

Being five feet from Billie Joe Armstrong while he's performing is fucking intoxicating, period. Pismodiver and Bren and I were all right down on the rail, witnessing his stage personality grow to fill the room so full that I wouldn't have been surprised if the roof had come off. So he was singing in our faces a lot, and playing guitar in our faces a lot. I was already psyched when Billie knelt down at the edge of the stage to sing (well, scream) right at my face during "Christian's Inferno" (look at the B&W picture of Billie Joe and Bono screaming into each other's faces, and you'll have it), not to mention the fact that we were so close we could see little tattoos on his fingers.

So they get to the song "Last Night On Earth" (the one I thought was called "All My Love," as that's what it was listed on the setlist I got at the Independent show), and I know most of the words at this point, because I'm madly in love with it.

(For anyone who hasn't seen it and wants to, it's this song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9g3PKg9_xw )

And Billie gets about a third of the way through the song and then comes over to the edge of the stage to where Adam (greendookie311) and I are leaning over the rail. And he's reaching out his hand, and of course we reach out to touch, but instead of just doing the hand-slap thing, he actually grabs me by the hand and yanks me forward, then lets go and gestures for me to come up onstage. At this point, my brain short-circuits and approximately a dozen people (everyone around me in the pit plus the two security guards) start trying to pry me out of the crowd and fling me onstage. There's a moment where I'm positive I'm going to eat shit on the edge of the stage, and then someone grabs me by my belt before I can knock out all my expensive dental work on camera (did I mention this concert was being filmed? we still don't know for what yet though) and I scramble onstage, and Billie grabs me and pulls me against him. This is possibly the most hilarious mental image you can imagine, as I'm about 8 inches taller than him. I don't exactly know what the fuck he's trying to do, so there's a few moments where we're just... swaying around like a couple slow-dancing and he's still singing and because I don't know what the fuck else to do, I am too. Mary (Pismodiver) is screaming "TURN THE FUCK AROUND KAT!" and when we finally do, I apparently look like a deer in the headlights.

And since I know a bunch of you will ask (AND HAVE ALREADY), yes I could smell him. He smelled like beer and cologne and man-sweat and it was awesome.

Billie lets go of me, still singing (to me, to his Miller Lite, to the stage... you take your pick) and sort of goes off to one side of the stage. I turn and look at the crowd and raise both fists in my one "FUCK YEAH" moment (cue the crowd cheering), and then Billie hands me his beer. And so of course I take a goddamn drink, and throughout all of this I am so stunned I almost don't know what to do with myself, because, well: what the fuck? I hand it back to him, he swings his arm in an "off with you!" gesture, and I do a rather awkward stage-dive back into the crowd because, goddammit, I waited 9 hours outside for this damn show, I am NOT getting handed all the way to the back. Because the crowd and my friends and the guards are awesome, I get wedged right back into my spot—and there's this moment as I'm sort of wriggling back in where I'm facing away from the stage, and I can't help myself, I just dissolve into this huge childish grin and the best part is that everyone in the crowd is beaming back at me. I turn around, and just before he gets to the end of the song, Billie comes over and crouches down to give me his half-finished beer. I finish it. I'm amazed I don't choke on it, but I'm so pumped I might not have noticed anyway even if it had all gone down the wrong pipe.

At this point I'm basically totally satisfied with my life and I can die happy. I turn my head to look over at Marisa and Audrey, who promptly FREAK OUT and scream at me, and I'm screaming back, and when we all look up at stage again, Tré is cracking the fuck up at us because we are obviously retards. But the band keeps playing without a break, and they head right into "East Jesus Nowhere," previously known as "March of the Dogs," which is already one of my favorites (yes I am spoiled, I know, you don't have to tell me). But they get to the end of that song, and Billie stops and looks over at me.

"Hey! Hey, what's your name? Kat? It's Kat? Did you guys see me and Kat dancing? It was like the fuckin' prom." *strums his guitar, Mike says something that I don't catch but which cracks himself up* "I saw you in the crowd at the DNA Lounge, Kat." (At this point I can't help myself and I yell "And the Fox! And the Independent!") "Yes, and the Fox. And the Independent." *strums his guitar a little more* "This song's for Kat. It's about REVENGE." And he launches into Peacemaker.

And that, children, is why "Peacemaker/Murder City" is permanently my favorite song off the new album, even though it's not out yet.

The rest of the show is equally amazing. Mary and Bren and I wrote everything we could remember down that same night when we went to Denny's after the show for sustenance, so here's what we got.

+ The setlist they taped to the stage got basically thrown out the window, because the band decided to play whatever they felt like/the crowd wanted to hear. Their original second half of the setlist (after the new album) included "Scattered" and "Hitchin' a Ride," which we would have been delighted to hear, but they didn't end up playing them. Here's the full setlist (not quite in correct order on the last bits):

All of 21CB (then the break)

A Buzzcocks cover that I didn't recognize but that they seemed TOTALLY pleased with themselves for playing - "Ever Fallen In Love?"

American Idiot

Jesus of Suburbia

Geek Stink Breath

An attempt to play 86 which never got farther than the opening chords

Give Me Novocaine

Midwestern Medley (Surrender by Cheap Trick/Bastards of Young by the Replacements)

Basketcase

Ziggy Stardust (part of it anyway)

King For a Day/Shout

(this included covers of "California Here I Come," "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," "Earth Angel," "Suspicious Minds," and the Swanee song)

Minority

+ Geek Stink Breath was actually my idea—I'd made a sign—but I didn't have the balls to wave it in Billie Joe's face after the way he'd already called me out during the first half of the show. So Adam (being Adam) took my sign and got Billie's attention, and Billie was all, "You want to hear Geek Stink Breath?" and watched me and Adam FREAK OUT in response. And they did a fantastic job without a single hitch, something they seemed a bit surprised by. It was adorable and also, awesome.

+ They seemed very cavalier about fucking up "86," which was another crowd request that they ended up not being able to fulfill. Billie made all sorts of hilarious comments:

"Hey, YOU try writing more songs than John Lennon!..." *breaks into a huge stupid grin* "I didn't say they were good."

"We can play thirty seconds of any song! ...Except our own."

+ During break before they played Midwestern Medley, Billie went on this ramble about how supposedly all the greatest bands in the world came from the Midwest. At first he listed some legit Midwestern Bands, like Cheap Trick and the Replacements. Then he started adding people like Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, the Ramones, and the Beatles. Mike piped up at this point with Madonna.

Small clip of Midwestern Medley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IO7i5V4USn0

+ I need to spend a minute talking about Mr. Mike Dirnt (or Michael Dirnt, as Billie introduced him). Apparently, marriage (hello, Mike's wedding ring, a foot from my face!) and fatherhood agree with him, because he looks amazing, especially now that he has his dark hair back again. We were collectively awed by his Biceps of Guh (seriously, you could severely injure yourself on this man's arms), and what was especially nice is we got to touch said biceps, because Mike decided he couldn't let Billie have all the fun, and at 2 separate points in the show, he shed his bass guitar and dove into the crowd. The first time, he didn't get far enough in for his liking, so he backed up onstage and took a running jump right over our heads. He also was clambering up and down the speakers at the side of the stage; at this point Billie told him to dive in again, so he went sailing into the crowd over by Marisa and Audrey (who had taken side-stage due to the fact that Audrey's foot was, at this show, approximately the size of Texas and the color of a Smurf from an injury). Apparently Mike loves being groped as much as Billie does. Hee.

Mike and Billie both also sprayed us with beer and water, multiple times; Bren especially was soaked by the time the show was over. Also? Mary blew Mike a kiss, and he caught it and winked at her. Why yes, yes we are big fangirls.

+ Tré is normally so on the money with his drumming that getting to watch him fuck up is actually a hilarious treat. Not all of it was his fault, though; right when they started "21st Century Breakdown," he had to stop the whole band because there was something fucked up with one of his kick-pedals, which he unceremoniously threw to one side of the stage. And later at the start of "Horseshoes and Handgrenades," there was something ELSE wrong with his drumset, so he got out from behind the set and marked time with just his two sticks, and the rest of the band obliged by doing an awesome pared-down, almost acapella version of the song for a few bars, until the drum techie had fixed the problem. It was very spontaneous and awesome. And Tré ALMOST fucked up and came in too soon on Basketcase again, but caught himself before he could really kick in.

+ There was one point during "Shout" when Mike was doing something his bass, almost like jerking it off (I missed this so my details are a little fuzzy) and then he went over to Tré and started pretending to jerk HIM off. Oh god, the Stage Gay kills me every time.

Speaking of Stage Antics, here's a clip of Billie Joe carefully unbuttoning his shirt and rubbing his nipple right in front of our freakin' faces, during "Shout." (You can't see what happens 'cause he's down onstage, but someone threw a shoe at him towards the end there.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dgJrt6toOo

What you ALSO can't see is Tré GRABBING himself by the ball (ha!) and yanking downward to help himself hit the falsetto he goes for. Dear Treseph: Never stop. And no, I don't know what that guy in the crowd said to make Mike crack up.

+ Also of note: Billie Joe grabbed the video camera from one of the guys who were filming at one point (one of the professional videographers) and kept right on singing as he filmed the crowd and then the videographer himself. It was pretty funny.

+ Jason & Jason (Jason squared!) were playing footsie/chicken with each other at the back of the stage again during King For a Day/Shout. Adorable.

+ I should also note that Billie, um, pretended to fuck his own ass with his microphone at one point, right in front of my goddamn face. (We nearly spontaneously combusted at this point.) This was in addition to all the hip-thrusting, crowd-diving, crotch-rubbing and general tomfoolery he got up to. He probably landed on me and Mary 3 or 4 times, and I know he came over and rubbed on everyone over by Marisa and Audrey a couple of times too.

+ I also want to note that while I would have been perfectly content if Billie had totally ignored me the rest of the show, he didn't; he gave me another beer at one point, and during "King For a Day" he shoved the mic in my face to let me sing ("Who put the drag in the drag queen? Don't knock it until you've tried it!"). When they were asking the crowd what they wanted to hear, I yelled for "409 in your coffee maker," and he leaned down and made me repeat myself so he could hear, but then shook his head and said they'd fuck it up too badly to play it. And at the very end of the show, after Minority, he came over to the end of the stage, put his pick in my hand, and closed my fingers over it. I want to note that Mike yelled at Adam until Adam took his baseball cap off so that Mike could lean forward and put HIS pick in Adam's hat, which was super-cool.

Mary, Bren and I all got sticks; we got MULTIPLE sticks, actually, and passed our extras out to our line-buddies who had waited faithfully with us. (The roadies were just kind of chucking all the sticks at the crowd, ow.)

+ Aaron Cometbus, like the previous 3 shows (as far as I know) was also at this show, down in the pit. After the show was over, I tracked him down to say hi, and I just want to note here that he's a really super-sweet guy. He was very friendly and easy to talk to. I told him how cool it was that he was down in the pit for all 4 shows, and he responded that he always thought it was fun for the band to actually see familiar faces in the crowd, instead of all their friends and family being hidden away sidestage or up in the VIP section. He added that even though the band tries to pretend they don't notice him (not wanting to draw attention to him) that they also snigger when they see him get kicked in the head or something. Hee!

I think that's it. Sorry it was so huge. I hope everyone enjoys it, thanks for reading if you got all the way through that monster!

Wow, thanks for sharing!

[Eirik]

Kat, that was amaaaaaazing, thank you soooo very fucking much. :woot:

[Tripe]

HOLY CRAP!

Beth sent me over to read this and I'm so glad she did! Best recap ever! Maybe best concert experience ever!

Welcome to the forum, Kat.

[sharon mitchell]

Okay guys.... sorry this is so After The Fact, but I am brand-spankin'-new to the forums. I saw NME's recap/article about the Uptown show in Oakland last week, and their journalism was so crappy I was motivated to re-post my own (huge, epically long) recap from my personal journal here. Apologies in advance if I jack up the HTML or something. **************************** I think that's it. Sorry it was so huge. I hope everyone enjoys it, thanks for reading if you got all the way through that monster!

That was awesome - I heard before that Billie often remembers fans. I have a horrible feeling he'll remember me for all the wrong reasons!

I am dead jealous and insanely happy for you at the same time.

[apocalipstick]

Oh my god. That review is amazing! Ahhhh!

[Kryssi.]

Wow, what a LOVELY review of the show, Kat. I love how in-depth you were and just proved that fans just like us can get close like that in shows.

[**nobodylikesyou**]

Kat that was an amazing recap. I loved all the little details that are in there, it made me feel as if I was right there with you and Mary and Diane!! The stage gay is hilarious and OMG to getting pulled up on stage!!

[achtungkatie]

Wheee, thanks guys! I'm so glad y'all enjoyed it. I'm notoriously long-winded, which is one reason I don't do the forums much; just don't have the time to comb through all the threads like I tend to do. But I'm glad to be here and I'm PSYCHED for the upcoming chaos of GD's tour.

I saw you being pulled up on stage and I thought "Man, this girl is fucking lucky!" Good to hear that was you

I enjoyed reading your recap since I didn´t get the chance to see this show from the inside(!). Well, I´ve watched it on screen from the outside but that wasn´t even half as entertaining as seeing a GD show from the inside lol

Thanks for going into details. That helped me getting a better image of what it must have been like to be there (inside :wink:). That was a really good read!

P.S. I´ve talked to you after the show for like 1 minute but you probably can´t remember me, can you? I introduced myself as a friend of Beth. Oh, and we met in the restroom in this huge store next to the Uptown

You! I do in fact remember you, dear. Thanks for reading, I'm glad you enjoyed. Maybe we'll meet up again at some future show, yeah?

[The Disappearing Boy]

it makes me laugh that they struggled to play 86 and 409, songs that they have played on a fairly regular basis over the years, yet the managed to play worry rock (which i don't think they have ever done before) pretty well.

[amy_runs]

AMAZING review I'm so happy for you!!