28th January 2005: GREEN DAY @ M.E.N. ARENA
Right after txtin Sal who woz excited for me I fast forward borin work and feel like a cat on hot bricks, I’m ready to go by 2.30! We left with Jacqui eventually at 4.30 - Wahay we’re off.
Picked Dave & co. up in Darley, saw Pickles then went, I felt like flashing my t… (-shirt) and HUGE smile at everyone on the street but I don’t suppose the old couple at the bus stop would give a shit that I was going to the best place to be on Earth from around 7.30 - 10.30 0n Jan 28th 2005, but then again I mustn’t be ageist, I have converted MANY people simply by playing Green Day to them, Billie sings/plays guitar, Mike & Tre play their instruments, I spread the good word - What a team!
We finally get there on what seems like an endless journey, even though i’d got a tape of Green Day I’d recorded playing all the way (think it only took just around 2 hours - felt like 2 years!)
Got into the Arena at last, found our seats. While - we were the waiting - I was looking across to some glass fronted rooms and I SWEAR I kept seeing Billie Joe! I got my binoculars out in the end, well what else could I do? You have to find out these things, he looked the same height, the same build, he was wearing black and was where none of us lot could go! He was directly opposite the room above mine…. Still don’t know if it was him but it passed the time!!
New Found Glory came on, though ok, the only song I knew was the last one and he was leaping around the stage like a demented frog, Why didn’t Japan get them and we get Sugarcult - Now Tim Pagnotta and his band are a different story, he leaps in style!
Brief interval, everyone queues for the loo, except me, who knows how to do it at these concerts - you go while support is on during the middle or last songs!!
SO FINALLY……………
The moment I’ve waited for FOREVER! The rabbit walks on stage to the sound of Blitzreig Bop - OH GOD It’s Green Day, the bloody acest band of all (along with Linkin Park of course!)
I suppose everyone will stand up (WHY DO THEY DO THAT?!) Don’t they realize they’ve paid for a seat and you can sit down and STILL see them, maybe it’s the 1st row’s fault who can’t see cos’ of the crowd on the floor and then they start like a Mexican wave type thing, (which incidentally we’d been doing effectively earlier!)
Anyway, Here come……………….GREEN DAY!
Everyone goes MANIC, When I say everyone, I know I’M going manic cos there, not FAR AWAY, are three guys that bring me happiness everyday!
We’re going for American Idiot after BJ has said Hi to everyone (and I , of course, said Hi back, Well I’ve always been into conversing and how rude would it be of me not to reply?!)
Jesus of Suburbia came next, I love the bit where Billie sings ‘I don’t care’, he sang it perfectly and he moved around the stage so obviously enjoying himself it was a pleasure to watch him.
He’s a bit like lightening - there before you know it and with such power, striking you with an electric but natural force, no wonder he’s so slim now he’s done all these concerts!
Mike looks cool doing all the moves he does as he plays his guitar, he reminds me of a gazelle - graceful and long legged!
Tre is great on the drums, he just never seems to miss a beat, he’s like a perfect working heart!
I wanted some photos so I decided to go down the stairs to a platform thingy and was happily clicking away next to a couple that weren’t, did about 14 when we were asked to move, apparently I’d, or we’d, been ’spotted’ and you weren’t supposed to accumulate there, Well neither are germs in your body but they still do!
I tried to pretend I hadn’t heard all that he’d said at first (or I hadn’t), can’t remember which (maybe the first to stay there a bit longer!) BUT, he was a grumpy sod (Jobsworth with a uniform) and it didn’t work!
SO, I trundled off back to my seat, When I say trundled, I mean I could’ve done with some mountain climbing gear, it was probably more like climbing Ben Nevis!
So, we’d by now melodically had our eardrums tickled with Holiday, Are we the waiting, St.Jimmy, Novacaine (WAHAY!), Basket case (WAHAY!) and Longview.
We’d sung with Billie Joe by this point but the next song was so cool - It was Hitchin’ a ride and BJ encouraged us to make rude noises with him like we were ….erm, well I remember it well anyway!! An Arena full of people ( or at least half of the Arena making rude noises must’ve been funny to security - if any of them had a humourous side!)
Next came - She, Brainstew/Jaded, Then we had King for a day (where Billie dresses as a king, he also used to wear a thong for this one but doesn’t do it anymore!) He flashed the top of his bottom at OUR side though, NOT a shy lad, our BJ, not on stage anyway!
The next bit up was the making of ‘The Band From The Audience’, The first drummer had to go, he couldn’t keep the rhythym (he was probably too excited!)
It all got sorted, we got to hear ‘Knowledge’ (one of my fave’s) and a kid called Alan got to keep the guitar he’d been playing (that BJ passed to him) Times like these you wished you played the guitar!
Tre and Mike seemed to disappear at this point and Billie was on his own, he was going to sing ‘Wake me up when September ends’, The lights were on him, he looked like an angel even dressed in black! SOD the security, I needed photos! I went down to the platform, took a couple, started walking up the mountain…erm stairs and was just going to go back down and take more when I decided to change my mind and continue back to my seat, Good thing I did - for who should’ve made their way to Ben Nevis but Good Old Grumpy himself. Miserable bugger, doesn’t he realize there was no-one blocking the platform, there was so much space you could hold a reunion there and that THAT man singing so beautifully down there is my FAVOURITE singer (along with Mike Shinoda and Chester Bennington of course!) of ALL time?
TWAT is all I can say, do you have to be a twat to be on security or do you learn it, yes I know you’re not supposed to stand on the platform but for God’s sake is 10 seconds going to hurt anyone? Is 1 minute? There are more platforms than just THAT one, the WHOLE Arena wouldn’t have wanted to use OURS! DICKHEAD.
Billie would agree with me, he’s an Aquarius! Actually I think Sally would agree with me, she’s cool!
Siobhan and Craig would agree with me, they’re cool!
Jacqui would agree with me, she’s cool!
I’m not going to list everyone who would agree with me and who’re cool! Tre’s obviously Cool though, that’s not to say Mike isn’t, I was just doing a joke with Tre’s name!
Anyway, next Billie sang the beginning to Letterbomb, no he sang that earlier, Wake me up must’ve been the last song, OR it could’ve been Minority but I’m sure they did that as an encore. (I wrote this in May, many Green Day cd’s/dvd’s have been played since January!)
WOTEVA!!!
They left the stage, we knew they would come back cos’ they hadn’t done Boulevard of Broken Dreams yet! BUT…………..
We STILL screamed for MORE!
They came back on for us…..AS THEY DO! And I THINK they sang Boulevard, Minority, When I come around, Queen’s ‘We are the Champions’ (which Green Day are, and they sang it excellently) and to finally and sorrowfully (for us) finish, they sang Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).
They then left the stage………OH……MORE??????……….PLEEEAASSE?
WHAT A BLOODY BRILLIANT 20 OUT OF 5 CONCERT! EXCELLENT, MARVELLOUS, WICKED!
We found Jacqui and her Mum and attempted to leave Manchester - Easier said than done!
It took us around 30 minutes til’ my brain left Green Day land and Logic landed back and I got us out cos’ of a M57 then a Sheffield sign!
I LOVED GREEN DAY, I LOVED BILLIE, I LOVED MIKE, I LOVED TRE, I LOVED THE WHOLE CONCERT,
Ooh, I forgot, On Boulevard of Broken Dreams Craig and I did the drumming action to part of it so we’ve now sang with Billie and drummed with Tre!
Oh and all that love above?
I HATE MANCHESTER!!!!
by Janet A. Laurie
