Green Day gigs: the good, the bad and the downright nasty. (Green Day - Live)

Member Name: RiotGrrly

Product:	Green Day - Live
Date:	12/09/01 (555 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Green Day live, are amazing

Disadvantages: Ignorant crowds

I have been to see Green Day twice, both in very different settings. The difference in location attracted different people. One crowd made me feel disollusioned with punk, life and everything. The other made me smile for weeks.

The first time I saw Green Day was at Nottingham Arena, 09/12/00. I ended up stood second from the very front. No complaints, apart from being kicked by crowd surfers and landed on. What got me was the way Billie Joe had to stop on a regular basis and ask the crowd to help each other out, pick people up and so on. Although his please of "C'mon, we're in this together" seemed a bit cheesey at the time, I quickly realised how right he was. I got pushed over at one point, and the lad next to me just stared at me dumbly while I tried to haul myself up. One of the reasons I got into punk was the ethos of equality and solidarity. But that was sadly lacking here. Looking around, the crowd seemed a lot younger (no offence to any young punk fans, honest). It also seemed that some of them had bought their ticket in order to scrap legally in a public place. Some of us were there to see the band. Imagine!

The second time was at Leeds Festival 2001. Having skulked around the beer tent for most of the day, I decided to go and get involved nearer the front. Being slightly drunk (ahem) I skipped through a little pit and got knocked over, taking someone else with me. Straight away, several people stopped what they were doing to pull us up. I try and go to as many gigs as I can and I'm saddened to say that I left the pit feeling...touched. But why should I? Is it too much to ask for people to treat each other in a way that they themselves would wish to be treated? The very nature of festivals tends to attract an older crowd. The camping, the toilets, the illegal substances, the ability not to cry when Sainsbury's staff rob you. To me, it seemed, that punk was, that night, alive and well.

Of course, Green Day
were very good. Even though they were in a supporting role at Leeds, they could easily have headlined. What do you expect from a band as big as them? At both gigs, they played well known tracks from all their albums: Basket Case, Longview, Minority, Nice Guys Finish Last...we all know them. And while I would recommend a Green Day gig to anyone, I would say be careful of where you go. Enclosed spaces seem to promote a kind of frantic behaviour that open fields don't. I go to a gig and I expect a few bruises. I don't expect people to look on while everyone else stands on me.

How you behave towards other people can influence how they feel about a venue or a band. I use Green Day because it's what I know, and I know I would have enjoyed Nottingham a lot more if the ignorance wasn't rife. Sadly, crowd ignorance has caused deaths. You can blame security, barriers, numbers of people. But at the end of the day, it's up to the indivual to ensure that they and those around them have a good time.

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