I saw my favorite indie band “A Green Day” last night, from the floor of a small alternative venue I discovered called The Madison’s Squared Garden. They’re great performers, and their attempt at a pseudo-punk rock aesthetic within a family-friendly concert was both hilarious and charming. Where else can you see a mosh pit, and right next to it, a middle-aged father and his teen daughter clapping their hands?
The show’s two-sided tone was summed up early on, when Billy Joe yelled, “I want 100 more fucking people to come down here onto the floor! SLOWLY! Get the fuck up, come past security and get onto the fucking floor! Slowly! CAREFULLY! Get the FUCK down here! SLOWLY NOW!”
But the highlight was when Billy Joe invited an audience member to come on stage and play guitar for the entirety of “Jesus of Suburbia,” a complex (for Green Day) 8-minute epic. A teenaged girl named Stephanie took the stage, clearly overwhelmed by her love for the band, and proceeded to totally shred. She played the song perfectly with her favorite band in front of a sold-out Madison Square Garden, receiving an ovation and chants of her name in return. It was very clearly the greatest moment in her entire life, and she totally deserved it.
When they fire T-shirt guns, a band isn’t exactly being subversively counter-culture. But in their own heartwarming and not-actually-bad-ass way, Green Day wants to make everyone feel like rock stars. And even if that’s their only real “cause,” I think it’s a worthy one.
