A poor choice of route caused the journey to take longer than expected, but I weaved through the arrivals line made it on time to meet up and head in for opening act Franz Ferdinand. Unfortunately, my slick driving skills didn't end up mattering. Turned out a few other people we were waiting for ended up arriving quite a bit later. Almost exactly when Franz Ferdinand was done. So we missed them. And that was disappointing.
After hurrying inside our annoyances were calmed with drinks provided by the late crew and we got over it. We staked out a spot on the floor of the sold out venue just close enough that we could see well, yet far away enough that we weren't packed in with all the kids up front. (we're way too old for that!)
Green Day took the stage a little after 9 and we were off. I've always liked the band from day one, although moreso with their last two albums, but I'd never seen them live. What we got was a nearly 3 hour set packed with more sustained energy than I've experienced from a band in a very long time. Beyond that, they seemed to have more fun on stage than any band at their tier of popularity and size than I think I've ever seen. And that just made the whole thing a great party and fantastic to watch.
I don't know how lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong does it. Drugs, alcohol, insanity or a combination of all three? Who knows? Who cares? A friend joked that he was exhausted watching 45 minutes in--when we were only 25% through the show.
All in all a great time. And it was capped off when I ran into the Hollywood Park casino for the first time in my life to take a piss after sitting in 45 minutes of traffic. Wow, that place is sketchy at 1AM on Weds morning!
Setlist:
1. 21st Century Breakdown
2. Know Your Enemy
3. East Jesus Nowhere
4. Holiday
5. Static Age
6. Before the Lobotomy
7. Are We the Waiting
8. St. Jimmy
9. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
10. 2000 Light Years Away
11. Hitchin' a Ride
12. Welcome to Parad...ise
13. Disappearing Boy
14. Tight Wad Hill
15. When I Come Around
16. Brain Stew
17. Jaded
18. Longview
19. Basket Case
20. She
21. King for a Day
22. Shout
23. 21 Guns
24. American Eulogy
~break~
25. American Idiot
26. Jesus of Suburbia
27. Minority
28. Macy's Day Parade
29. Last Night On Earth
30. Good Riddance
Random covers in songs/inbetween songs:
Free Falling
Surrender
Satisfaction
Sweet Child Of Mine
Ain't Talkin Bout Love
Sweet Home California
Break on Through to the Other Side
I Don't Know
"We're Coming Home" part from Homecoming
No comments:
Post a Comment