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May 7, 2005
 
HNN Music Writer Takes Rockin' Road Trip to Columbus to See Green Day Perform

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by Brandon Woolum
Huntington News Network Writer
 
Huntington (HNN) – After Tuesday class was over for me, so it was time to celebrate. At the beginning of the week I was given the opportunity to see Green Day perform live in Columbus. The show was slated to happen Thursday evening, May 5, 2005.
 
Last night just happened to be that Thursday and I traveled up U.S. 23 to Columbus with fellow X106.3 air-talent, Robin Wilds.
 
Since this show just kind of popped up I had no time to set up any sort of photo pass or anything of that nature, even though I tried hard to get it. I was armed with only a ticket, not a single credential for this show.
 
The event was held on the campus of Ohio State University at Value City Arena, the same arena that OSU basketball games are played at. This was my first time being in this place, and WOW – it's huge!
 
In comparison to the Charleston Civic Center, our biggest arena, which has 2 levels, Value City Arena has four. As I walked down to my 5th row seats that Green Day's label hooked me up with, I looked around and saw nothing but people.
 
During the opening act, My Chemical Romance's, set they performed a slower ballad which had much of the crowd holding cell phones and lighters in the air. It wasn't until then that I could truly tell how big this venue was.
 
As I stood in line to get into the building I could tell that the security were giving some pretty good pat downs and were making people either trash their cameras or take the m back to their car.
 
However, credentials or no credentials I didn't drive 3 hours to not take a single picture. Since I expected that camera's would not be allowed I only brought my newest camera along with me. It's a very slim camera, about the size of a credit card.
 
The small camera easily slid into my wallet and was not seen during the process of the security's search. Although I was able to sneak the camera in, the security was much tighter in Columbus Thursday night than it was for Shinedown in February.
 
Following My Chemical Romance's 45 minute set, the stage was changed and red curtains covered the back portion of the stage. Minutes later a person dressed as a pink rabbit wondered out on stage with a bottle of beer. The character acted to be drinking it and drunk. The crowd loved it.
 
Once the bunny stunt was done, the lights went down and out ran Green Day. There wasn't really a big introduction, the guys just came out without preparing anyone for it.
 
After their entrance they went straight into one of their current hit singles and the title track off their latest release, "American Idiot." They continued to play the newer stuff early by playing their current single, "Holiday," as their third tune of the night.
 
Loaded with 9 full length CD's, thousands of sold out performances and 16 years together, these guys had plenty of stuff too choose from. Nearly every song they sang last night was atop the billboard charts in it's prime.
 
I've never purchased a Green Day album in my life nor ever been a huge fan of the band. However, almost each song they sung I knew word-for-word.
 
The band just released their first studio album in over 4 years back in September. The album, "American Idiot" rested in the #1 selling album position for several weeks before finally getting knocked off by 3 Doors Down (a band that will be returning to the Tri-state this summer/details coming soon.)
 
The California natives had a very energetic stage show which included pyrotechnics and flames. These guys are each over 30-years-old and they still move around more than many of the younger generation of bands I've seen recently.

Drummer, Tre Cool, was very peppy. I've never seen a drummer go through as many drumsticks as Cool. At a normal concert a drummer might use 4-6 drumsticks. That wasn't the case this time. Cool would sometimes use 14 drumsticks in an individual song. The energy filled drummer would toss the stick over his head in between each pause in songs before picking up a new set and continuing the song.
 
Drumsticks were not the only thing that Green Day was giving to lucky fans Thursday evening. Midway through the performance lead singer Billy Joel Armstrong decided that he was going to assemble a band with three people from the crowd. He selected a male guitar player and drummer and a female bass player. Armstrong sang as the three fans played the instruments.
 
Following the performance, Armstrong told the young man who was playing his guitar that he could keep the guitar. The look on the kids face was priceless - I wonder how long until we see it on eBay?
 
As the band wrapped up their 90-minute set the crowd of over 20,000 fans gave them some of the biggest cheers of the night. Once off stage, chants of "Green, Day" "Green, Day" "Green, Day" broke out and eventually the band returned to the stage.
 
They did a 4-song encore that included their top 40 hit "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and a version of "We Are the Champions." During "We Are the Champions" 4 canons filled with confetti were fired into the crowd of thousands.
 
The band finished the night off with Good Riddance (Time of Your Life). Following the song Tre Cool picked up his tom drum and smashed it through the rest of his drum set.
 
This concert was the first of 10 road trips that I will be going on in order to see concerts in the upcoming months. Some of them I will be loaded with a photo pass and VIP treatment, and then some I'll have to sneak in a camera.
 
Whatever the case might be I will be there and will do my best to get the scoop on some of this summer's hottest tours. This road trip series will continue Tuesday evening when I hit the road again for Columbus to go see rock band Lifehouse.
 
Until then enjoy some exclusive photographs from the concert. [View Photos]