Green Day at The Uptown Nightclub, 4/15/2009

I hadn’t planned to attend tonight’s Green Day show at the Uptown in Oakland.  I knew it was happening, but I wasn’t going to get there early enough to get in line, skip Franz Ferdinand, and spend another late night with Green Day.  I wanted to, but I was just going to do something different.

Then a funny thing happened.I walked by the Uptown at around 3:45 and there were only about 40 people in line.  So I got in line and started thinking about whether or not I should stay or not.  I called some people and told them to come by, and the next thing I knew, I was going to Green Day at the Uptown, thus proving I’m insane.

This was my third Green Day show in just over a week, so everything needs to be taken in that context.  The Independent show happened so fast, I barely had time to get excited for it.  The night at the Fox in Oakland was a big bombastic stage show, and the crowd energy was fairly low.  But last night at the Uptown, it was crowded and hot and sweaty and a little dangerous.  Although it was the most sloppy of all the shows, and there were a fair amount of technical challenges, it was truly great to be there.

I didn’t take down a setlist because my Blackberry was dead, and anyway, I was being pushed and shoved consistently for more than 2 hours.  They played the entire new album and then a second “set.”  Like the other shows, they played American Idiot, Jesus of Suburbia, King For a Day and Minority.  Here’s some brief highlights:

• During Novacaine, Billy Joe was having horrible feedback issues.  Each time he did, he spiked his microphone on the ground.  It was like a little tantrum, and it was entertaining to watch.  After the song, he asked us if the feedback was too bad, and I think the consensus was “my ears are ringing too much for feedback.”
• At one point, the band started taking requests.  Someone asked them to play 86.  Billy Joe started teaching it to Jason White, who has been the 4th guy in the band for the last ten years.  Then he fiddled with it a little bit more, finally realizing he couldn’t play it.  People started jeering, and he said “you try writing more songs than John Lennon!”  This brought more jeers, and he said “I didn’t say they were all good.”
• Billy Joe had to stop Minority in the middle to tell some guy in the front of the crowd not to feel up women when they crowd surf.  He looked really pissed about this.  Minority ended up being the last song, and I blame that guy.  There clearly could have been more songs!

It’s nice to know that my Green Week is over.  Three Green Day shows in eight days is really tiring.  One can only pogo into the early morning hours so much before they need to take a night off.  If Green Day were playing a surprise house party tonight, and I were invited, I’d probably skip it.

Or would I?

Gordon Elgart

A music nerd who probably uses that term too much. I have a deep love for bombastic, quirky and dynamic music.

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Author: Gordon Elgart

A music nerd who probably uses that term too much. I have a deep love for bombastic, quirky and dynamic music. View all posts by Gordon Elgart