September 13 - Matress Firm Ampitheatre, Chula Vista
Being able to photograph a band you spent most of your life idolizing is great but when within one year you get to do that twice you count your blessings. This was not only an unbeliavable honor but an unforgettable couple of nights that I will cherih forever.
On April 8th Green Day played valley View Casino center, and this past Speptember they rocked the Matress Firm Ampitheatre in Chula Vista. (<---- I truly hate the name change #RandomThoughts) There they delivered one of the most fun, loud and just lavish show that seems to have borrowed its grandure from Broadway delivering a once in a lifetime larger than life spectacle that kept everyone engaged from opening to end.
My seven year old son recently discovered Green day and while watching one of their videos he decided he was going to become a rock star just like Billie Joe and that he was going to play guitar... that of course made me quite proud so I decided to surprise him with a floor ticket of his own to see them live, after all there is nothing quite like experiencing #LiveMusic.
That night I told him nothing. The entire family just got in the car we told Zion just that mom needed a ride to go photograph a band ( we didn't tell him which of course).
It was sooooooo hard not to let it all out but somehow we managed, I photographed the first three allocated songs, ran out of the pit and handed ( Pretty much tossed) my camera bag to my husband, grabbed my son's hands and handed him a ticket as I started running back toward the stage almost dragging him along.
He gave me the most hilarious confused look I had ever seen in a child, it kinda reminded me of a few years back when I tried to surprise him at disneyland with Goofy when after standing in this huge line he just looked up at Goofy and then at me saying " Mom, he's just a person in a costume, why did we stand oin line?"
It didn't take much for him to realize who was playing and his confused look morphed into this insane smile, I swear I could see all of his teeth.
He was just mesmerized, wide eyed fixated on the band and Billie Joe. - Mom - I love that guy , I love him - he kept saying throughout the night .
It is such a strange experience when you get to see something you love through your eyes and your son's. It makes the impact of the emotions twice amplified to say the least.
And I have to agree with my son, when it comes to Billie Joe what's not to love? That man puts on a show like no other, when he takes stage he instantaniously owns you and the rest of the audience . His theatrical persona plays as perfect background to each of his songs creating a magical experience of immerse proportions.
Each show is a well scripted and rehearsed explosion of raw emotions that escalates with each song leaving you sore and out of breath at the last tune.
It has proven impossible not to scream along each tune, jump and just totally let any guards down.
It takes quite a performer to present two virtually identical shows within just a couple of months and somehow have them each perceived as freash and new, and this is exactly what green day delivered, two unsurpassable experiences. (<----shows isn't word enough to describe Green Day Live)
