#1
Posted: 5/6/05 at 3:58pm
It’s something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.
I hope you had the time of your life.
~Green Day, whom I saw live yesterday
My friend and I were late (he had a thing) so we missed My Chemical Romance, but I don't know them anyway so I wasn't upset. We did get to see their awesome techies (techies are always awesome), though, while waiting for Green Day to get set up. Awesome as they are, people moving mike stands are only so much fun so we wandered down to the souvenir place where I ended up with a poster much too big for anywhere and debated over whether or not to buy- I kid you not- a five dollar and fifty cent seven inch pizza. Robbery is spelled D-O-N-A-T-O-S, my friends. And just as I was about to spend far too much money on far too little food, Friend checked his watch. 7:59. We were on the ground floor, and our seats were the second-to-last row in the nosebleeds. (I swear there were clouds between us and the lucky kids on the floor) You’ve probably never been to the Schottenstein Center, but if you go I highly recommend getting to your seat sooner than one minute before the band starts, especially if said seat is approximately 394578349857.83 miles away. And I insist it if your running skills resemble mine. That was my workout for the week.
Anyway, on to things people might care about.
They started a bit late (good for the athletically and watch-watching challenged). Billie Joe Armstrong is nothing if not a performer. He’s excellent at drawing an audience in and he really works off their energy. Whether it’s an act or if he’s really just that excited to be there, I don’t know, but I loved it either way. Jesus of Suburbia was particularly well-performed because Billie has an almost Jesus-like presence. The crowd definitely follows him before anyone and he turned the show into his own platform to say things that he feels, which he does with great vigor and anger. He really sings it as though it’s his first time with the lyrics and he’s feeling them; there’s no phoned-in performance. The other interesting thing is how he sounds live- still sings very well (in my uneducated opinion) but his voice has a different, almost juvenile twang to it. It’s small but noticeable. Speaking of small, he’s a very short little boy, making him look even more like a twelve year old. It’s cute/hot to watch him jump around like nuts on stage beside the much more chilled out bassist, who has arm muscles that greek gods envy. Tre Cool is very fun to watch, too. I love seeing him pound the **** out of those drum sets, and he does it quite admirably. The guy who played guitar while Billie was too busy running around was also great, I wish he’d gotten more credit. Jason White (I think that’s his name), you rock.
Anyway, they didn’t play much of American Idiot (wish they had done Homecoming) but it was great, the new and the old stuff. I was also watching for things that my dear Ellie told me to keep an eye out for, such as the part where he invites three kids up on stage to play the band’s instruments and then allows the one who takes his place to keep the guitar. I didn’t, however, count on him to kiss the boy, though. And it nearly killed me when he did. He just grabbed this guy and kissed him. The image is forever burned into my retinas and I shall die a happy woman. My friend later told me he’s bi. And I thought I really did die. And if that wasn’t good enough, there was one part where he started making sex noises. Obviously a joke, but hot as hell. And there was groping, too. Yeah. I love the gutter.
Then they went back to that music stuff and we enjoyed a few more songs. Then they took another breaklike thing in which Billie said he thought he’d take off all his clothes. And then he changed his mind (not that he was ever really going to, but I was very hopeful. He does have a nice ass though, which was displayed).
All of this was planned, of course, but my favorite Billie Joe moment was not. In the middle of one of their breaklike-music-playing things, he stopped what he was doing and told the band to stop too, then went over to the side of the stage and talked to the kids on the floor. A couple of them were fighting and Billie just stood there and lectured them. I believe his exact words were ‘Don’t ****ing punch people, ok?’ Then he threatened to beat them up with a microphone if they didn’t stop, or else he’d have to separate them.
This is getting long, so I’ll wrap up with three songs. They did a wonderful cover of We Are the Champions, complete with lighter-waving from the audience. Wake Me Up When September Ends was the same; I just stood and stared. I did borrow a less-than-legal trick from a bwwer who shall remain unnamed for her own protection and allowed my mother to listen in on that one song via cell phone, since she loves it. I kept thinking it was over and then it kept going, right up until Billie finished with Good Riddance all alone onstage.
A very good way to lose my concert virginity, I think. And thanks for reading.
I hope you had the time of your life.
~Green Day, whom I saw live yesterday
My friend and I were late (he had a thing) so we missed My Chemical Romance, but I don't know them anyway so I wasn't upset. We did get to see their awesome techies (techies are always awesome), though, while waiting for Green Day to get set up. Awesome as they are, people moving mike stands are only so much fun so we wandered down to the souvenir place where I ended up with a poster much too big for anywhere and debated over whether or not to buy- I kid you not- a five dollar and fifty cent seven inch pizza. Robbery is spelled D-O-N-A-T-O-S, my friends. And just as I was about to spend far too much money on far too little food, Friend checked his watch. 7:59. We were on the ground floor, and our seats were the second-to-last row in the nosebleeds. (I swear there were clouds between us and the lucky kids on the floor) You’ve probably never been to the Schottenstein Center, but if you go I highly recommend getting to your seat sooner than one minute before the band starts, especially if said seat is approximately 394578349857.83 miles away. And I insist it if your running skills resemble mine. That was my workout for the week.
Anyway, on to things people might care about.
They started a bit late (good for the athletically and watch-watching challenged). Billie Joe Armstrong is nothing if not a performer. He’s excellent at drawing an audience in and he really works off their energy. Whether it’s an act or if he’s really just that excited to be there, I don’t know, but I loved it either way. Jesus of Suburbia was particularly well-performed because Billie has an almost Jesus-like presence. The crowd definitely follows him before anyone and he turned the show into his own platform to say things that he feels, which he does with great vigor and anger. He really sings it as though it’s his first time with the lyrics and he’s feeling them; there’s no phoned-in performance. The other interesting thing is how he sounds live- still sings very well (in my uneducated opinion) but his voice has a different, almost juvenile twang to it. It’s small but noticeable. Speaking of small, he’s a very short little boy, making him look even more like a twelve year old. It’s cute/hot to watch him jump around like nuts on stage beside the much more chilled out bassist, who has arm muscles that greek gods envy. Tre Cool is very fun to watch, too. I love seeing him pound the **** out of those drum sets, and he does it quite admirably. The guy who played guitar while Billie was too busy running around was also great, I wish he’d gotten more credit. Jason White (I think that’s his name), you rock.
Anyway, they didn’t play much of American Idiot (wish they had done Homecoming) but it was great, the new and the old stuff. I was also watching for things that my dear Ellie told me to keep an eye out for, such as the part where he invites three kids up on stage to play the band’s instruments and then allows the one who takes his place to keep the guitar. I didn’t, however, count on him to kiss the boy, though. And it nearly killed me when he did. He just grabbed this guy and kissed him. The image is forever burned into my retinas and I shall die a happy woman. My friend later told me he’s bi. And I thought I really did die. And if that wasn’t good enough, there was one part where he started making sex noises. Obviously a joke, but hot as hell. And there was groping, too. Yeah. I love the gutter.
Then they went back to that music stuff and we enjoyed a few more songs. Then they took another breaklike thing in which Billie said he thought he’d take off all his clothes. And then he changed his mind (not that he was ever really going to, but I was very hopeful. He does have a nice ass though, which was displayed).
All of this was planned, of course, but my favorite Billie Joe moment was not. In the middle of one of their breaklike-music-playing things, he stopped what he was doing and told the band to stop too, then went over to the side of the stage and talked to the kids on the floor. A couple of them were fighting and Billie just stood there and lectured them. I believe his exact words were ‘Don’t ****ing punch people, ok?’ Then he threatened to beat them up with a microphone if they didn’t stop, or else he’d have to separate them.
This is getting long, so I’ll wrap up with three songs. They did a wonderful cover of We Are the Champions, complete with lighter-waving from the audience. Wake Me Up When September Ends was the same; I just stood and stared. I did borrow a less-than-legal trick from a bwwer who shall remain unnamed for her own protection and allowed my mother to listen in on that one song via cell phone, since she loves it. I kept thinking it was over and then it kept going, right up until Billie finished with Good Riddance all alone onstage.
A very good way to lose my concert virginity, I think. And thanks for reading.
Updated On: 5/6/05 at 03:58 PM
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