Last Night Was Amazing, Billie Joe

Last night, I took my little brother to his first rock concert ever. The lucky band: Green Day. Not to sound like a groupie or anything, but they were INCREDIBLE. Everything from the opening number (”American Idiot”) to the final number (Billie Joe singing “Time of Your Life” alone with an acoustic guitar and a single spotlight) was exciting and fresh. Yes, even for someone who has listened to their CDs ad nauseum for almost ten years now.

On top of the great music, the band’s onstage antics were hilarious. My favorite moment was when Billie Joe stuck his hands down his pants, started moaning and finally howled, “SOMEONE PLEASE FUCK ME! I LIKE IT ROUGH!” The entire female portion of the audience went nuts, including me. I’ve never found myself attracted to the short, skinny, punk rock type - but there was just something about him in that moment that was impossible to resist. I guess I know now why rock stars get laid as often as they do.

But I certainly don’t want to reduce the artistic import of Green Day’s work to an onstage orgasm - no matter how hot. After all, American Idiot is the hands-down best album of the decade, if not of my generation. I think history will look back on American Idiot as the Who’s Next of our time. The show reflected both the quality of the music, and the band’s rare ability to not take itself too seriously - even in the midst of recognizing its own genius.

Five Stars.