Okay, GreenDay isn’t country…I am VERY well-aware of that…but I couldn’t help being entertained by the eclectic group, and wonder why on earth  more country acts can’t work it quite like they do.

My first instinct after being offered tickets to last nights Kaiser Cheifs/GreenDay show…was…hmm…”Heck No!”  I instinctively knew that my non-country days were over (unless we’re going to see NKOTB).  However, my husband’s musical tastes differ from mine (to say the least).  I knew he would enjoy the show, so we snatched em up.  My expectations weren’t high, and I wasn’t expecting to be super entertained.  While waiting for GreenDayto take the stage, my husband and I realized that the last album of theirs we had purchased was in high school (cough..um..like 13 years ago)…We were ‘old school’ GreenDay fans if “Dookie” tells ya anything…And when I saw a drunken pink bunny (yes, you read that right) come on stage to ‘warm’ us up…I felt very old.

The stage set-up was simple with a very large projection screen on the back and some digital screens over-laying them.  No fancy entrance was needed, Billie Joe and the guys just walked on.  I would soon learn that rising-up from the stage, flying over the audience, and all of those other ‘fancy’ entrances were un-needed frills.  The guys planned on working the crowd the ‘old fashioned way.’

Within the first 15 minutes, Billie Joe leapt off the stage, pulling a Keith Urban,  descending into the lower levels to mingle with the rowdy crowd and play guitar.  Never afraid to give, he even stopped to kiss a woman dancing in the aisle.

Thankfully, we did NOT have general admission (aka mosh pit) seats.  But those that did had a great time crowd surfing and dancing…Oh, and their chances were good of being called-up on stage.  Billie Joe called a total of 8 people on stage last night.  A few got to sing their favorite songs, a child got ‘saved (don’t ask), one kid got to assist Billie in squirting the crowd with water, toilet paper, and t-shirts, while one guy (he said he was 17, but he looked 12) got called up on stage to play guitar…Which he rocked at !!!

The band worked the crowd like a well-tuned orchestra…Much like a conductor, Billie Joe’s every whim was met…The crowd was out of their seats the entire night with hands waving in the air to the exact beat of the music.  I can honestly say, I’ve never seen an entire arena full of people with both hands up in the air, waving TOGETHER for an entire show.  Billie Joe didn’t just cater to the crowd surrounding the catwalk…he pulled people from the lower levels, and even shot t-shirts to the very back of the arena and 2nd level.

The all-too frequently used F-bombs and mooning (yes, we saw dairy aire several times throughout the night) aside, I have NEVER seen such a diverse crowd ‘worked’ so well in all my life.  Fancy pyro-technics and stage diving had nothing to do with it.  From mo-hawks to polos, from 60 year-old woman dancing to 10 year old boys (I personally don’t think that’s a good idea btw); the ENTIRE arena rocked it from 8:30-11 last night.

The ONLY country act I’ve seen even come close to a show like this is Keith Urban…I mean really…Every single member of GreenDay worked the crowd with talent and attention.  They didn’t play to a sea of people…They played to an individual in the audience…an entire sold out crowd of individuals…And, some of our favorite country acts need to take note andmaybe attend a GreenDay concert to see what I mean.  I’ve been to a LOT of concerts in my day…and too many of them go through the motions of their nightly concerts, performing to a see of bobbing heads…When really they need to be touching, making eye contact, and having conversations with the crowd…

[photo source]

Got some country music gossip and don’t wanna be a tattle tale?  Email me, Tawny Tucker, Tawny@countrymusictattletale.com