Milton Keynes National Bowl - England, June 18th, 2005
It was hot and sunny - which is unusual for England! Green Day must have brought some of that Californian weather with them.
We'd set off at 7 am and got there about 11 and it paid off - we managed to get in to the 'gold circle' at the front which was excellent. Cost £3 for one plastic cup of warm water!! A rip off but we didn't care - Green Day were coming on in 11 hours.. and we'd be there to see them as long as we didn't get sunstroke!!!
The first support band was Hard Fi from Staines in England. Next came Taking Back Sunday - the lead singer was mental and kept trying to kneck himself with his microphone lead. I thought they were excellent though and everybody seemed to enjoy them. Then it was Jimmy Eat World.
At 9 the pink bunny arrived (so was that Billie Joe or not?) - drinking lager and doing the YMCA with 64,000 people. Funny!
Then it was the moment we'd all been waiting for. The crowd went mad when Bille Joe, Tre and Mike burst on to the stage. It didn't matter any more that we were all boiling hot, sweaty and in need of hydration. Green Day were actually right there in front of us
American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia (nearly had a heart attack - if you were there you know what I'm on about), Holiday, Are We The Waiting, St Jimmy, Longview, Hitchin' a Ride, Brainstew, Jaded, Knowledge, Basketcase (my favourite), She, King for a Day (hilarious), Shout (yes really, it was a version of Lulu's old classic), Wake Me Up When September Ends (emotional), Minority..
NO, NO, NO - it can't be time for them to leave yet. It only felt like 5 minutes!
Everyone screams for them to come back - and they don't disappoint - Boulevard of Broken Dreams, We are the Champions and Time of Your Life.. then it was time for the fireworks.
Every song was brilliant and I'm sure every one of the 64,000 fans were singing along to every word. Billie Joe is the best front man around and he knows how to work the crowd. He had everyone going mad - from the under 10s to the over 40s. Tre is off his head (the facial expressions and the way he kept throwing his drum sticks away - what was that about??). And then there's Mike - what can you say, he's fantastic up there.
The guys they got up on stage to play the drums, bass and guitar were so lucky. Especially the 14 year old 'Billie Joe Wannabe' who got to keep the guitar (how much do Green Day spend on guitars for their tours?!?!). The girl who played the bass wasn't so lucky though - she did a stage dive and it didn't look to me like they caught her. Hope she was okay!
It took us three and a half hours to leave the venue and get out of the car park, then it was a four hour drive home for us. 6.30 am Monday morning we eventually got home. But we'd do it all again tomorrow to see Green Day again. When are you coming back guys? We're already waiting.
And I know it's corny but yes, I had the 'Time of my Life'.
In Billie Joe's words - thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..
We'd set off at 7 am and got there about 11 and it paid off - we managed to get in to the 'gold circle' at the front which was excellent. Cost £3 for one plastic cup of warm water!! A rip off but we didn't care - Green Day were coming on in 11 hours.. and we'd be there to see them as long as we didn't get sunstroke!!!
The first support band was Hard Fi from Staines in England. Next came Taking Back Sunday - the lead singer was mental and kept trying to kneck himself with his microphone lead. I thought they were excellent though and everybody seemed to enjoy them. Then it was Jimmy Eat World.
At 9 the pink bunny arrived (so was that Billie Joe or not?) - drinking lager and doing the YMCA with 64,000 people. Funny!
Then it was the moment we'd all been waiting for. The crowd went mad when Bille Joe, Tre and Mike burst on to the stage. It didn't matter any more that we were all boiling hot, sweaty and in need of hydration. Green Day were actually right there in front of us
American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia (nearly had a heart attack - if you were there you know what I'm on about), Holiday, Are We The Waiting, St Jimmy, Longview, Hitchin' a Ride, Brainstew, Jaded, Knowledge, Basketcase (my favourite), She, King for a Day (hilarious), Shout (yes really, it was a version of Lulu's old classic), Wake Me Up When September Ends (emotional), Minority..
NO, NO, NO - it can't be time for them to leave yet. It only felt like 5 minutes!
Everyone screams for them to come back - and they don't disappoint - Boulevard of Broken Dreams, We are the Champions and Time of Your Life.. then it was time for the fireworks.
Every song was brilliant and I'm sure every one of the 64,000 fans were singing along to every word. Billie Joe is the best front man around and he knows how to work the crowd. He had everyone going mad - from the under 10s to the over 40s. Tre is off his head (the facial expressions and the way he kept throwing his drum sticks away - what was that about??). And then there's Mike - what can you say, he's fantastic up there.
The guys they got up on stage to play the drums, bass and guitar were so lucky. Especially the 14 year old 'Billie Joe Wannabe' who got to keep the guitar (how much do Green Day spend on guitars for their tours?!?!). The girl who played the bass wasn't so lucky though - she did a stage dive and it didn't look to me like they caught her. Hope she was okay!
It took us three and a half hours to leave the venue and get out of the car park, then it was a four hour drive home for us. 6.30 am Monday morning we eventually got home. But we'd do it all again tomorrow to see Green Day again. When are you coming back guys? We're already waiting.
And I know it's corny but yes, I had the 'Time of my Life'.
In Billie Joe's words - thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you..
