We Love You Denver!

I think I also forgot to tell you that we went to the Green Day concert. I love Green Day! One of my favorite bands.

The concert landed on Dave's birthday and, in typical fashion, he chose something he sort of likes but knows that I really like. He's so sweet! And impossible to shop for.

Donna told me she was going to get tickets for her and Daren and did we want to go, too? She got our tickets (we gave her the money the day of the concert), we set up a sleepover for the kids at their grandparent's house and waited for the big day.

Donna mostly wanted to go to the concert to see the opening act - Franz Ferdinand. The concert was scheduled to begin at 7p.

On the big day, we went into downtown Denver together, had dinner at a pretty good Asian restaurant and walked back to the concert venue. Took us a few minutes to get in and we were walking to our seats by 10 'til 7p.

We heard Franz Ferdinand already playing!! Who ever heard of a rock concert starting on time much less early! We all ran to our seats so Donna wouldn't miss any more of the band she was mainly there to see.

When Green Day came on, they gave a decent show. It was strange and, frankly, a bit disappointing. I've not seen that much pandering since the last election year. It was like they had some private bet going - how many times can Billy Joe (lead singer) suck up to Denver??

"We love you Denver!" "We love Colorado!" "Denver!!" I shit you not, one of those phrases was uttered at least twice per song. Per. Song. Even the radio DJ's were bustin' on them about it the next day. The DJ's were also commenting on how incredibly long the show was! Green Day has a huge catalog of hit songs to choose from and the concert was nearly 3 hours long.

And! They kept pointing the microphone out to the audience. For a good 1/2 - 2/3 for each song! I didn't pay to hear these assholes to sing, I paid to hear the assholes on stage sing!

It wasn't a total loss, though. There were some pretty cool moments here and there during the show.

Early in the concert, Billy Joe pulled a kid of about 9 years of age onto the stage and whispered in his ear to tell him what to do and when Billy Joe gave him the "yer HEALED" tap on the forehead, the kid laid flat out on the stage and it was timed with some fireworks. Very cool moment for that kid, right?

Then the song Longview came up, Billy Joe pulled up a different person for each verse and let them sing it. He said, "I only want someone who really knows the lyrics", and each person he pulled up? They blew it. The girl he pulled up handed him her bra. He said, "What's this? Is this for me?" and she nodded and yanked her shirt up. Just as quick he yanked it down and said, "No, you don't need to do that." Awesome. Stupid girl!

Also, during one song, he paused and walked over to the side of the stage and started talking to these guys that were trying to get into a fight, "Now, now. Don't do that. Work it out, guys, work it out. We're not assholes here, we don't do that." The bouncers seemed to work it out with the fighting guys but it was cool that Billy Joe lent a verbal hand.

The last person he pulled on stage was one of the coolest things I've ever seen at a concert. It was towards the end of the concert, Billy Joe said, "And now for something completely different! I want someone for this next song that can play guitar. [Looks around surrounding crowd] You! Ya little fucker - you've been holding up that sign for the whole concert. Can you play guitar? Someone get him a mic."
Kid: yea!
BJ: How long you been playin'?
Kid: 5 years
BJ: How old are you?!
Kid: 12
BJ: All right, let's see - what key is this song played in?
Kid: G
BJ: Hmm. What fret is that?
Kid: 3rd.
BJ: All right, get your little ass up here.

Billy Joe set the kid up with his own guitar! It was way too big for the kid so BJ had him sit on an amp and that kid played the whole damn song with the band! And he. ROCKED. IT! So cool! That is something that kid will remember the rest of his life! I heard that the mom called into a radio station the next day and said she was in the car the whole time and missed it and did anyone video it? Don't' know why she was in the car while her 12 year old was at a Green Day concert by himself! Maybe she hates Green Day? Bummer she missed that! I hope someone got a video to her.

The last encore was just Billy Joe by himself - he was at the end of the long part of the stage with an acoustic guitar and a single spotlight. He sang Good Riddance and another slow song off the new album and it was quite lovely.

It was a fun night, Ruth!