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Albuquerque, NM
Well... Green Day. Wow. What else can I say. My first time going to Journal Pavilion, and I was pretty disappointed that my seats were so far from the stage. But, what can you do. Jimmy Eat World came on at about 7:00, and they were decent. I'm not a big fan, and I didn't think they were that great live, and, c'mon, I wanted to see Green Day. Jimmy Eat World only played for about half an hour, though, which was cool. At around 8:00, the pink bunny came out and got trashed listening to Blitzkrieg Bop and YMCA. Lots of audience members got into it, pumping their fists and doing the YMCA dance. Finally, the bunny left the stage, and the tension ran high as everyone stood up in their seats and everyone in the pit pushed towards the stage. Then, the members of Green Day ran onstage, and everyone went wild. They broke into American Idiot, and the energy was so tangible, it was great. Of course, Billie Joe gave his, "I want you to sing so loud that every fuckin' redneck in America can hear you!" Everyone did, of course. Billie Joe then talked about the last time that they came to Albuquerque, in 1991, and they played in a storefront with about 30 people. Look how far they'd come, to a big stadium with about 6,000 people... They played Jesus of Suburbia next, which they dedicated to everyone that had come from a small town, and they played it to a tee, of course. Then was Holiday, and Billie Joe introduced it with, "This is a big fuck-you to George W. Bush!! This song is not anti-American, it's anti...WAR!!" Right around that time it started raining, and as they sang "Hear the sound of the falling rain" with the rain falling on everyone's heads... Ah, it was perfect. Next they slowed down for Are We the Waiting (which silly Billie called St. Jimmy), and pumped it back up for St. Jimmy. Around this time they picked a boy out of the audience to spray everyone in the pit with a Super Soaker, which they loved. Then Mike started playing the bassline for Longview, and everyone cheered and sang along at the top of their lungs. When they finished with that, Billie and Mike ran offstage and Tre came out to the center to sing All By Myself. It was hilarious, he was so cute as he sang, "I had an ERECTION..." Next, I believe, was Hitchin' a Ride, which I was so excited to hear. They dragged it on forever, with countless shouts of "Hey-o." And, of course, Billie Joe did his masturbation bit, which was very funny and, well, very hot. I think they broke into Brain Stew next, which was so awesome live. After Jaded was Basket Case, I'm pretty sure, which got everyone worked up. Then they played She, which is my absolute favorite Green Day song, so I went wild. Afterwards, Billie Joe asked, "Are there any old-school Green Day fans out there?" Of course everyone screamed, but as Billie Joe introduced 2000 Light Years Away, almost nobody knew the words and it made me sad. Knowledge was next, and I was absolutely dying that I wasn't in the front. They picked the drummer, then the bassist, both very competent. When it came time to pick the guitarist, though... Billie Joe first picked a girl who claimed she'd been playing guitar for 3 years (to "represent the ladies"), but she couldn't play. He picked a guy next, who also couldn't play. Finally, Billie Joe turns to the crowd and asked everyone, "Alright, can ANYONE play guitar? You can? You sure? You swear to God? Alright, get up here!" This guy in a Queen T-shirt got onstage, and Billie Joe gave him a big one right on the mouth, which obviously made the Queen guy very happy. He actually knew what he was doing (yay), and when the song was finished, he did a stage dive into the crowd. Then Billie Joe asked, "Alright, where'd that girl go? Bring her out here." He gave her his guitar, she cried, it was a beautiful moment, blah blah blah. But Billie Joe sent her on her way with a nice, promising, "Now practice, dammit!" I think Minority was next, which was great, with Billie Joe's harmonica solo and all. Around this time, Billie Joe started singing "Nobody likes you..." and I thought they were going to play Letterbomb, so I was freaking out. But when they started to play WMUWSE instead, I wasn't that disappointed. Everyone had their lighters and cell phones up in the air, and it was great. After that, they did their cover of Shout, which was excellent. When they started singing "A little bit softer now," Billie and Mike got down on the floor, still playing and singing, and then Billie Joe broke into a rendition of Stand by Me. All in all, I think that was my favorite part of the night. Then they brought it back up with "A little bit louder now, a little bit louder now..." and went right into King for a Day, with everyone in funny costumes and obviously having a great time. They thought they'd end it there (yeah, right), and, with a big, "GOOD NIGHT, NEW MEXICO! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouTHANKYOU!"
they ran offstage. Of course, they couldn't fool us, and the chant of "GREEN DAY, GREEN DAY" brought them back in about a minute. They burst into Maria, and followed that with Boulevard of Broken Dreams. Everyone was singing along, living the moment. We Are the Champions was next, which was very emotional and powerful, and the crowd loved it. Finally, Mike and Tre and Jason and everyone else ran offstage, leaving Billie Joe alone with his guitar, where he proceeded to play Good Riddance. As he sang, "I hope you had the time of your life," I bet everyone in the crowd had done just that. I know I had.
I'm afraid I don't have any pictures, though I wish I did. |
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