My first-ever concert was Green Day, opened by Rancid and The Linda Lindas at the Azura Amphitheater on August 20. That concert was the best night of my life. It was surreal to me because I had never even seen a famous person in the flesh before, let alone a band that got me through the quarantine in 2020.
When I walked through security, the workers gave me a pink, heart-shaped sheet of paper that said, “Hold this up to your phone’s flashlight during ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ and ‘Bobby Sox.’”
I got to my seat at 7 p.m. and immediately my eyes grew wide. I was sitting in the 14th section, considered far away from the stage, but I was still in total awe that I was at a Green Day concert. It did not matter if I was on the lawn or in the pit.
They were quick with the opening performance from The Linda Lindas. The Linda Lindas are an all-girl punk rock, commonly known as a “Riot Grrl”, band that mainly focuses on feminism in their songs. They came out with the most energy from a girl group I had ever seen. The bass filled my entire body with thrill and their vocals were unique and raspy. They played their most popular song, “Racist, Sexist Boy,” along with some new music from their upcoming album, “`No Obligations.”
I was very impressed by their performance. They are a fairly new band that had not performed live much but they made it look extremely natural. I had never heard any of their music before the concert but they were so appealing that I became fascinated with their music and followed them on Spotify the second they left the stage.
My adrenaline was already pumping through my body at a thousand miles an hour when Rancid came on stage shortly after. The crowd, including my father, was louder this time so I knew this band was going to be good.
Rancid is another punk-rock band created in the early 1990s, along with Green Day. They came out with less energy than The Linda Lindas at first but their music was heavier than The Linda Lindas.
I was not very familiar with Rancid either but I knew some of their music from my dad’s USB drive that he plays in the car. I was impressed with them as well! They sounded just like the songs I knew before and I will never forget the look on my dad’s face when they played “Ruby Soho.” He smiled with pure amusement at the band. I knew the lyrics to that one and it was really fun singing along with the crowd for the first time.
After they left the stage, the sun was setting and my adrenaline kept rising as the time for Green Day to appear got closer and closer. Later on, the lights started flashing to the beat of “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen as it faded in from the speakers. This is a Green Day tradition that they do at every concert and I was finally a part of it.
Soon after, a giant pink bunny appeared on stage, the “Punk Bunny Coffee” mascot, and was chased around the stage by a girl I assumed worked for the band. The scene riled me up even more.
Without warning, the lights flashed, Green Day ran onto the stage, and tears immediately filled my eyes. They wasted no time and jumped right into “The American Dream Is Killing Me,” from their newest album Saviors. I screamed louder than any person in my section; they probably thought I was doing too much.
Between every song, Billie Joe Armstrong yelled “AYOOOO” to make sure we stayed energetic. At one point, he noticed people in the pit had their phones out in front of their faces.
“Put the cellphones away! Just for a while. Let’s be here, right now!” Armstrong said. No one would deny that request, so they put them away.
A “Bad Year” blimp with a sad face on it floated across the stadium, dropping mini blimps out of it for people to catch. I did not catch one but lord knows I wanted one! Luckily, a confetti cannon exploded soon after and I caught some of the green confetti instead.
As a quick intermission, the drummer, Tre Cool, changed into a cheetah print robe and pranced around the stage singing “All By Myself.” For a band that is considered rebellious, this had me wheezing. Although, that very well could have been what people were smoking around me. Either way, it was unexpected and it made me laugh very hard.
“Wake Me Up When September Ends” began so I pulled the paper heart out of my pocket and held it up to the flashlight. The stadium filled up with luminous shades of pink and green. At that moment, I felt honored to be sharing this memory with so many people like myself. Small moments like that make me realize that we are all the same in some ways. It was a very special part of that night for me.
As the concert came to an end, Armstrong saw a poster in the crowd that said, “I’m 17, Please let me play Good Riddance.” He let the girl play the song and my dad and I were both shocked to our core because she was amazing! She nailed the song, note for note, without hesitating.
The morning after the concert, we realized that her name was Ruby Leigh and she was runner-up on season 24 of The Voice. Somehow, that made it less impressive because we thought she was a random teenage girl who had her dreams come true that night. It made me wonder how much is set up nowadays. She’s talented, nonetheless, but it would have been more sentimental if it was a girl who did not already have 360.1k followers on TikTok.
I got a tour T-shirt and a poster after the concert ended. I held onto that shirt tight so I would not ruin it walking to the car. I still have not worn it but I pinned the shirt up on my wall, alongside the poster. I keep the green confetti and the paper heart on my desk as a reminder of the best night of my life. They played every song I wanted to hear and some I wasn’t very familiar with but they were all undeniably perfect. Armstrong’s voice was spot on and they didn’t miss a single beat. The concert was the best first concert I could have ever asked for. I would go back to a Green Day concert, even with the same seats, just to feel that ecstatic again. A thousand out of ten experience.
