Green Day Concert

Happy Friday All!

Earlier this week I got a phone call from KROQ. I thought it was going to be a survey or opinion call, so I was a little rude, but then I found out I won tickets to see Green Day! As you may know, Green Day is one of my favorite bands, so I was surprised by my reaction to the news that the concert was on Thursday night in Hollywood. I thought, "Ooh... Thursday night in Hollywood. I don't know if that works so well for me, I have to get up pretty early for work. Maybe I can trade for something on a Friday or Saturday." I knew I was going to go (it is a free concert, in a small venue, with one of my favorite bands), but I was still shocked that THAT thought was the first thing to pop in my mind.

When I mentioned the news to Lindsey, the first thing we discussed was the effect it would have on the baby. I read that concerts are not good for the baby because his/her ears are still developing and could be damaged. That may or may not be true, but Lindsey and I discussed how she would've been miserable driving up to Hollywood on a weekday, have to get up for work the next day, on top of the fact that the pregnancy has already left her so fatigued - we decided it wasn't a good idea for her to go.

I invited Yaron (Victoria's boyfriend) and he offered to drive. If you've ever been in the state of California during rush hour you know how bad things can get (if you haven't, imagine normal rush hour traffic and multiply it by 10). So, the drive to the concert was the worst part of the night. We had some confusion between eating at Pink Taco or Pink's Hot Dog Stand (there's a joke in there somewhere). Problem is, we were near Pink's Hot Dog in West Hollywood, went through Beverly Hills to Pink Taco to realize it wasn't the place we wanted, went back through Beverly Hills and ended up where we had started - all during rush hour (got it?). Long story short, I left work at 3:30 PM and we didn't get to the venue until 7:45 PM.

The venue was an interesting set-up. In an attempt to stop ticket scalping, it didn't send out tickets, so everything was Will Call. On top of that, there were a ton of people on the guest list, so Yaron and I waited in a line that was two blocks long. We didn't get into the venue until 9:30 PM, just enough time to grab a drink and have the band take the stage. Luckily there was this big guy pushing his way through the crowd - we just followed him to the front.

The show was amazing! Definitely one of the best I've been to. The first set was all from their new album "21st Century Breakdown." The next set was an eclectic mix of their extensive catalog. Billie Joe pulled a kid (~10 years old) on stage to do a head-first stage-dive, he pulled people from the crowd to sing their songs. The best was that the band played 5-10 requests from the audience. I'd never seen that happen before, where the lead singer just took requests (they even played cover songs of: Iron Man, Stand By Me, and You Make Me Wanna Shout).

We also ran into a few celebrities: Breckin Meyer couldn't get a ticket into the show; Drew Barrymore fell all over Yaron; and Bob Saget creepily watched the show behind us like a giant-6'4"-Big Bird.

I didn't get to bed until 4 AM this morning.

P.S. Here's how I knew I had a bad week: When I danced my butt off at a punk rock concert and didn't get to bed until 4 AM, only to have to wake up for work at 5:30 AM, and when my alarm clock went off I thought: "I've woke up feeling worse earlier this week - this ain't bad."