Atlantic City, NJ - MGM Arena, April 23rd, 2005
As usual Green Day blew the crowd away with an amazing performance. The show was made up of a balance of both new and old stuff. The Opening act My Chemical Romance was very energetic and got the crowd pumped up for Green Day. I’m not a huge fan of theirs so I don’t know what songs they played but they were insane on stage.
After the set change and the stage was decked out in heart grenade banners and back drops the pink bunny came out and chugged a beer and did the ‘YMCA’ to get the crowd going. My friend Lauren and I went onto the walkway at the top of the side risers and we found out that you could see backstage! So we waited there during the set change and when the Pink bunny went on stage Green Day came into the backstage area! We saw Mike enter first followed by Tre and Billie Joe. We were screaming their names but the music was too loud and they couldn’t hear us. We got to see them do their little pep rally to get pumped up for the show. Billie Joe was running around like a mad man running all around the tech people. Mike was running in place REALLY fast along to the music. Tre leaped onto a couch and laid down with his hands and feet up in the air shaking like crazy.
The theme song from 2001 A Space Odyssey played and Green Day ran onto the stage and blasted into the song ‘American Idiot’. After that they played ‘Jesus of Suburbia’. The 9-minute rock opera was played flawlessly and is one of the best songs to see them perform live. Next, front man Billie Joe announced, “This song isn’t Anti American, it’s anti-war!!” and played ‘Holiday’ Then they went into ‘are we the waiting’ and ‘St. Jimmy’. During ‘St. Jimmy’ Billie Joe was all over the stage, the song always gets the crowd rowdy.
Next they entertained the crowd with some of their older songs. Mike walked out onto the catwalk and started the infamous bass line to ‘Longview’ and the crowd went crazy. Then they played ‘Brainstew’ and went right into ‘Jaded’, and then they did ‘Hitchin’ a Ride’. And they even played ‘She’ which was a great surprise. Then Billie Joe started singing the opening line to ‘Letterbomb’ but he stopped and started playing the chords to ‘Wake me When September Ends’, cell phones and lighters emerged from pockets all over the arena, it looked like it was filled with stars.
They started the song ‘Knowledge’ by Operation Ivy and soon called up three lucky fans to form a band onstage. They pulled up a very talented guy to play drums. The bassist was very energetic and looked right at home on stage, he got the crowd going and ran all over the stage. The guitarist was a girl, who got a hug and a kiss from Billie Joe and even got to keep the guitar. Together they played the song and Billie Joe continued singing.
I can’t remember the exact order of the songs, but they did ‘King for a Day’ wear Billie Joe wore his crown and everyone else was wearing some sort of crazy hat. Then they burst right into ‘Shout’ and when they were singing “A little bit softer now, a little bit softer now”, they got down on the floor and a tech guy came out and put a cap on Billie to complete his King attire and to bring him back up, like James Brown. Then to end the first part of the show they covered ‘We are the Champions’ and got the crowd singing along. When the song was over they ran off the stage, but that wasn’t their final exit. A sign above the stage lit up and got the crowd chanting “GREEN…DAY”, over and over again until they once again came back on stage. I can’t clearly remember what songs they did in the encore because I was just rocking out so hard and it was a blur. I do remember that they did ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ‘Maria’ which was very unexpected! I had never heard them perform that live so I enjoyed it very much. That’s all I can remember, but they performed one last song together then, Mike, Tre and everyone but Billie left the stage. He took his place out on the catwalk and he ended the show the right way by singing ‘Time of Your Life’. When the song was over he left the stage and the crowd roared one last time.
The concert was amazing! It rocked every single person and their mother in that arena and it was a night I’ll always remember.
After the set change and the stage was decked out in heart grenade banners and back drops the pink bunny came out and chugged a beer and did the ‘YMCA’ to get the crowd going. My friend Lauren and I went onto the walkway at the top of the side risers and we found out that you could see backstage! So we waited there during the set change and when the Pink bunny went on stage Green Day came into the backstage area! We saw Mike enter first followed by Tre and Billie Joe. We were screaming their names but the music was too loud and they couldn’t hear us. We got to see them do their little pep rally to get pumped up for the show. Billie Joe was running around like a mad man running all around the tech people. Mike was running in place REALLY fast along to the music. Tre leaped onto a couch and laid down with his hands and feet up in the air shaking like crazy.
The theme song from 2001 A Space Odyssey played and Green Day ran onto the stage and blasted into the song ‘American Idiot’. After that they played ‘Jesus of Suburbia’. The 9-minute rock opera was played flawlessly and is one of the best songs to see them perform live. Next, front man Billie Joe announced, “This song isn’t Anti American, it’s anti-war!!” and played ‘Holiday’ Then they went into ‘are we the waiting’ and ‘St. Jimmy’. During ‘St. Jimmy’ Billie Joe was all over the stage, the song always gets the crowd rowdy.
Next they entertained the crowd with some of their older songs. Mike walked out onto the catwalk and started the infamous bass line to ‘Longview’ and the crowd went crazy. Then they played ‘Brainstew’ and went right into ‘Jaded’, and then they did ‘Hitchin’ a Ride’. And they even played ‘She’ which was a great surprise. Then Billie Joe started singing the opening line to ‘Letterbomb’ but he stopped and started playing the chords to ‘Wake me When September Ends’, cell phones and lighters emerged from pockets all over the arena, it looked like it was filled with stars.
They started the song ‘Knowledge’ by Operation Ivy and soon called up three lucky fans to form a band onstage. They pulled up a very talented guy to play drums. The bassist was very energetic and looked right at home on stage, he got the crowd going and ran all over the stage. The guitarist was a girl, who got a hug and a kiss from Billie Joe and even got to keep the guitar. Together they played the song and Billie Joe continued singing.
I can’t remember the exact order of the songs, but they did ‘King for a Day’ wear Billie Joe wore his crown and everyone else was wearing some sort of crazy hat. Then they burst right into ‘Shout’ and when they were singing “A little bit softer now, a little bit softer now”, they got down on the floor and a tech guy came out and put a cap on Billie to complete his King attire and to bring him back up, like James Brown. Then to end the first part of the show they covered ‘We are the Champions’ and got the crowd singing along. When the song was over they ran off the stage, but that wasn’t their final exit. A sign above the stage lit up and got the crowd chanting “GREEN…DAY”, over and over again until they once again came back on stage. I can’t clearly remember what songs they did in the encore because I was just rocking out so hard and it was a blur. I do remember that they did ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’, ‘Maria’ which was very unexpected! I had never heard them perform that live so I enjoyed it very much. That’s all I can remember, but they performed one last song together then, Mike, Tre and everyone but Billie left the stage. He took his place out on the catwalk and he ended the show the right way by singing ‘Time of Your Life’. When the song was over he left the stage and the crowd roared one last time.
The concert was amazing! It rocked every single person and their mother in that arena and it was a night I’ll always remember.
