Phoenix Show Recap

[drummerdude13]

When everyone was telling me how much my first Green Day show would change me, I never knew what they were talking about until now. August 30, 2010 was the best night of my life, and I will never forget it. I literally had "the time of my life".

My friend Jordi and I arrived at Cricket Wireless Pavilion at about 5:20. Security let us through the gates at 5:30. Just the feeling of being in a place where Green Day was going to perform was a thrill for me. We immediately hit the merchandise stand. I bought a t-shirt, a wristband, and a tour poster. Then we went to check out our seats.

Compared to where I thought our seats were, our actual seats were amazing. They were right in the middle of the whole arena. We weren't that close to the stage, but it was close enough for me. After we sat down for a minute, I told Jordi that I needed to go find some people. So we went looking for people who had Green Day Authority or Green Day Community t-shirts on. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anyone, so we returned to our seats.

While we were waiting in our seats, I told Jordi story after story about various live Green Day shows. Jordi is a fan of Green Day, but not a really hard-core fan like I am. So most of the stories I told her (some of which I think every Green Day fan should know) just excited her even more and made her even more impatient to see them.

Finally, AFI came out to open the show. The seats around us were completely empty. I wasn't surprised because AFI really wasn't that good. The singing and overall music wasn't that bad, but the live performance was horrible. But there were some people who just came for AFI. Across the aisle, we saw two kids that seemed to know every song that AFI played. They were fist-pumping and seemed to have their own invisible microphones that they were singing into. Jordi and I thought it was pretty funny, so we recorded them on her cell phone. That at least provided some sort of entertainment for us while AFI was performing.

After about 30 minutes, AFI finally left the stage and the stage crew started to set up Green Day's equipment. They started to take down a silver curtain that hid Tre's drum set. The moment that I saw his drum set, I realized that in a matter of minutes, I was about to see my favorite band and my heroes right in front of me.

The wait seemed endless. Finally, the drunk pink bunny came out on stage. He chugged two beers and got everyone to do the YMCA. At that time, the seats around us started to fill up. It seemed as if people started to appear out of thin air. By the time the bunny left the stage, the whole arena was packed.

And finally, I heard Song of the Century start. The moment was finally here. The moment I had been waiting for for 5 1/2 months was finally here. The stage went dark and on came the start of 21st Century Breakdown. The stage lit up again and there was a big explosion. And Green Day was there, right before my eyes. This was just the beginning of the night that I will never forget.

Of course, I knew all of the words to the song. And when they reached the point in the song where Billie sings "we are the class of 13", I felt like they were performing that song just for us because I'm going to graduate from high school in 2013. After 21st Century Breakdown ended, Green Day went straight into Know Your Enemy. Despite what people say about the song, I think it's amazing when they play it live. Towards the end of the song, Billie Joe pulled a guy on stage and then made him stage dive.

After Know Your Enemy ended, the band started playing East Jesus Nowhere. I was very excited to hear this live because it is one of my favorite songs off of 21st Century Breakdown. And of course, they pulled a kid on stage to get "saved". The kid was only six years old, so it was pretty awesome to see him up on stage. After the song ended, Billie walked him off stage saying "Get him out of here! He's gonna steal all my pot!".

After that, the band went into Holiday. At one point, Billie told everyone to crowd into the aisles. But as soon as we went out into the aisles, security told us to go back to our seats, so we did. At the end of the song, Tre started a drum roll. At that point, I knew they were going to play Murder City, another one of my favorite songs off of the album. It was a real treat to hear live.

Then, they played a song that I never thought I would hear live. After Billie switched guitars, they started to play Give Me Novacaine. In the middle of the song, Billie changed the lyrics to say "Arizona is better than California", which of course made everyone scream even louder. Then they went into yet another song that I thought I would never hear live: Letterbomb. It was so cool to me that Green Day was playing such rarely played songs.

After that, the band played Are We the Waiting and St. Jimmy. Are We the Waiting is such a powerful song played live. The whole arena was absolutely filled with emotion when the whole crowd sang the chorus. Before the end to St. Jimmy, Billie stopped for a good two or three minutes and just looked out at the crowd. Finally, Billie ended the song with "and don't you fucking wear it out!".

After Billie switched guitars, he started Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Then he put his guitar down and started to do a hand stand. He failed and fell over near the stairs leading up to Tre's drum set. He then got up, walked over to the microphone, and said "I'll do fucking anything for fucking Arizona". After Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Billie spotted a person in the crowd who had an alligator hat. He asked for the hat, but the person wouldn't give it to him. So he told security to get the alligator hat. He got the alligator hat and then picked up the mic and said "you'll be sorry". I don't know what that was from, but it was pretty funny. Then he said that they were recording a "live fucking album" right now. As soon as he said that, I knew that they were going to play Cigarettes and Valentines. Just hearing a new (or not so new) song was one of my highlights of the show.

Then they went into older songs like Burnout, One For the Razorbacks, Geek Stink Breath, 2000 Light Years Away, Hitchin' a Ride, and When I Come Around. I was in a complete daze during these songs because I never thought I would hear a lot of them live. So most of that part of the show is a blur to me. But I do remember Billie stopping in the middle of One For the Razorbacks because security was pushing some guy near the pit around. He also brought people on stage during One For the Razorbacks and kept them on stage until the end of 2000 Light Years Away.

After When I Come Around, the band started playing random covers like Iron Man, Highway to Hell, Baba O'Riley, Ain't Talkin' About Love, Sweet Child O Mine, and Rock You Like a Hurricane. Then the band went into Brain Stew and Jaded. I absolutely loved the fire in the back of the stage during Brain Stew.

At the start of Longview, I started to get really excited. Since the show started, Billie Joe had been looking at me because I was waving my poster around all night. I was so sure that he would be like "Hey you that's been waving that poster around all fucking night! Get your ass up here!". But of course, he didn't. First, he pulled up some girl who barely knew the lyrics or was just too excited to sing them right. Then Billie pulled up a guy who knew how to play Longview on the guitar. And this guy went absolutely crazy! He would sing, and then run around in circles across the stage. In the end, Billie started copying him by running around in circles. When the song ended, the guy asked if he could have some water. Billie laughed and told him he was out of shape and then gave him a guitar.

Then they went into Basket Case and She. She is another song that I never thought I would hear live. The stage went dark, then the band came out with their weird costumes for King For a Day. Billie Joe had a purple scarf-thing, Tre had a bra, hat and glasses, Mike had a wig, Jason White had a pirate hat, and Jason Freese was dressed like Elvis. The whole thing was pretty hilarious. The best part was when Tre came to the front and did that funny dance that he's been doing lately right before Shout.

After King For a Day, the band played Shout, Break On Through, Hey Jude, Satisfaction, and Free Fallin'. This all went on for about half an hour, all while the whole band was lying on the floor. Then, after all of that was finally over, Green Day continued by playing 21 Guns. When Jason Freese came in with just the piano during the chorus, the whole arena went dead silent, except for a few screams here and there. The whole song was spectacular. The whole crowd going silent is something I will never forget.

They continued on with American Eulogy. This is another one of my favorites. I remember the beginning of the song when I was singing along at the top of my lungs, but everything after is a blur. Then the band left the stage. At first, I was thinking "What?! It can't be over already?!". Then I remembered that Green Day always plays an encore. At that moment, a sign in the back started flashing the words "Green" and then "Day". The whole crowd started chanting "Green Day, Green Day, Green Day". The band came back out and went straight into American Idiot. The crowd sang most of the song, with Billie mostly running around the stage.

After the end of American Idiot, Billie asked if someone knew how to play guitar. He ended up bringing up a kid who was maybe 11 or 12. Then they started into Jesus of Suburbia. The kid did pretty well, despite having to have Billie stand there telling him what chords to play. The kid played for about half of the song before Billie Joe got a different guitar and let the kid have the first guitar. The whole performance was really awesome.

After Jesus of Suburbia, Billie went and got his acoustic guitar and the rest of the band left. Billie started playing Last Night on Earth, with the rest of the band joining in halfway through the song. The next song was Wake Me Up When September Ends. I never knew that I had an emotional connection to that song until that night. As he was playing it, I immediately thought of my mother who passed away when I was very young. At that moment, time came to a stop. I was able to take in everything I was seeing and hearing. The whole moment was breathtaking. It was when I realized that this was the happiest I have ever been in my life. That feeling can't really be put into words.

After the end of the song, Billie went into Good Riddance. It was then that I realized that the best night of my life was almost over. And at the very end, where Billie says for the final time, "I hope you had the time of your life", that was when I screamed the loudest. Just when everyone thought that it was over, Billie sang one last line: "Wake me up when September ends". The whole thing was very emotional. The rest of the band walked back on stage. Mike said hello to some people in the pit and Tre threw handfuls of drum sticks into the crowd. Green Day left the stage, and then we got up and left.

So after my first ever concert experience, I now know what those other people were talking about when they said my life would be changed forever. This will be the one night that will stay with me forever, along with, hopefully, many other Green Day concerts to come.

[petros]

Oh that's a really really great review

I really enjoyed reading it

[St3veHimself]

They let someone play Jesus of Suburbia on guitar?! He didn't even ask in Detroit I was right by the stage and I knew how to play it.

[Sanity Loan]

Good review!

Sounds exactly like mine though

[drummerdude13]

Good review!

Sounds exactly like mine though

I knew that you posted a review for Denver and I tried not to make them sound too similar. I guess I kind of failed at that

[ChelseaWhatsername]

WHERE

IS

THE

"LIKE"

BUTTON

[Sanity Loan]

I knew that you posted a review for Denver and I tried not to make them sound too similar. I guess I kind of failed at that

Haha don't worry..... it's good

[Marlee]

Very good review

[in_your_face]

that's a nice review of the show.