Totally didn’t plan on attending Green Day’s Concert in Singapore, and ended up going only because Andrea and Nic Thooi persuaded me to go. Well, whatever earlier hesitation I may have had was misplaced, because the concert was downright friggin’ incredible.
FoOie, Andrea and NicT!
Alex and Fooie!
Faizah, Fooie and Jocelyn
The opening act by Prima Donna was kinda mediocre with lots of guitar grinding tracks that didn’t sound very inspired. Kudos for their effort though, and the whole saxophone with rock thing going on.. We were all just biding our time, waiting for the legendary Green Day to come on stage.
Let the show begin!
Green Day rarely performs outside of the US, and their ‘first time ever’ coming to Singapore was a big thing for the fans in the region. There were plenty of hardcore Malaysian and Indonesian rockers in the crowd who attempted to turn the free standing zone into literal mosh pits. I nicely elbowed one guy who just kept slamming his body against me trying to get to the front, then overheard him tell his friend “aduh, kena elbow lar!”..
Regardless of the assholes the energy was insanely high and infectious, and Billy Joe Armstrong really knew how to work the crowd. We were kept constantly cheering, shouting, waving and singing along to everything.
They opened their act with songs directly from their latest album 21st Century Breakdown, and from there progressively went back through time with their biggest hits from their older albums.
Following that, they played songs from their American Idiot album before moving to their glory Dookie / Insomniac days (the REAL reason I decided to go for). Ah, to be able to scream-sing-mosh ‘When I Come Around‘, ‘Welcome to Paradise‘ and ‘Basketcase‘ along with thousands of others is something that’s 15 years overdue. Better late than never I say. 
Each ‘phase’ in their performance is marked with different stylized Green Day backdrops. The main stage was equipped with pyrotechnics that was used to great effect too. Only drawback with the setup was the lack of projector screens cause lots of the shorter audiences (their female / younger fans) couldn’t catch what was going on.
Mike Dirnt!
The legendary Billy Joe Armstrong!
Billy Joe had plenty of antics up his sleeve to keep us entertained, pulling off random short covers from Black Sabbath, Elvis, The Beatles and more. He called up many lucky fans (small kids included) to sing along with him but the best was probably this spirited mat rocker with green hair who sang the entire ‘Longview‘ flawlessly to a cheering crowd.
Water hoses and supersoakers, drunken bunnies, toilet paper shooters, gas powered T-shirt cannons and silly costume props abound. Billy Joe apparently mooned the crowd too! But I didn’t get to catch it cause my view was blocked at that moment 
(not that I wanna see his ass mind you).
Supersoaking time!
Toilet paper madness
Billy Joe with pink bunny ears
20 years down the road, and Billy Joe could still rock away. It’s amazing how his voice didn’t waver or break at all despite shouting and singing for almost 3 hours straight (while most of us left the concert voiceless). Both Tre Cool’s tight as hell drumming and Mike Dirnt’s trippy bass lines was the stuff of legends – they sound a thousand times better live than their album recordings.
Pyrotechnics backdrop - ooh yeah
He eventually ended the show with ‘21 Guns‘ and ‘Minority‘, before coming back for the first encore with ‘American Idiot‘ and ‘Jesus of Suburbia‘. The 2nd encore was simply beautiful though, with Billy Joe performing a triple solo acoustic set of ‘Last Night on Earth‘, ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends‘ and the perfect finale track ‘Good Riddance’ (Time of Your Life)’. Well I sure had the time of my life.
Thanks and credit to Andrea for squeezing all the way to the front and taking the above awesome close-up shots!
Jess on January 16, 2010
I.WAS.SO.UPSET.FOR.NOT.BEING.ABLE.TO.MAKE.IT.TO.SINGAPORE.TO.WATCH.THEM T_________T
FoOie on January 16, 2010
Aww there will be other concerts mar..
Jocelyn on January 16, 2010
omigosh, your friend is so lucky to be able to take such close up photos of billie joe!! im jealous! all i got were hands sticking out in my photos…haha.
FoOie on January 16, 2010
Yeah man, I’m jealous too! Haha, and she even managed to get Mike Dirnt’s used guitar pick!
Andrea on January 16, 2010
These photos are awesome, aren’t they? If I do say so myself
Fighting tooth and nail to get to the very front, many a death stare, a few elbow jabs to the stomach, my CK shoes getting completely trashed from being trampled on, and not to mention suffering from the aftermath of a rock concert (busted hearing, sorethroat, aching bones)…ALL.TOTALLY.WORTH.IT!!!!!!! You’re most welcome for the photos, glad you can share all the Green Day glory with everyone else 
M* on January 16, 2010
It looked FUCKING amazing! Maybe the guy was secretly trying to dryhump you from the back?
May I suggest a well-timed elbow to the ribs the next time someone tries that stunt.
O YA. THE LADY IS COMING BACK TO ASIA. Nyahaha. I am SO SAVING UP MY OFF DAYS TO SEE HER.
[3 hours shouting and you're left voiceless? EXACTLY how I feel after teaching 2 classes back to back. Welcome to my world! ]
soolee on January 17, 2010
aiiikkskks…. i wanna watch also !!!
Sandra on January 20, 2010
I wish I was there @___@
Kok on January 25, 2010
I MISS IT IN PERTH !
FoOie on January 25, 2010
Andrea : You MOST DEFINITELY know how to enjoy yourself in a concert – considering you weren’t even a big fan of Green Day to begin with! Can’t wait to rock out on Green Day Rock Band at your place in the future
Mei : An elbow to the ribs was exactly what I gave the guy!
Lady Gaga yet again? when?
Soo Lee : Hopefully they will come back and perform again.. They aren’t young anymore though..
Sandra : Eh you listen to Green Day wan meh?
Kok : HOW CAN YOU MAN, I think YOU were the one who introduced me to them oh so many years agoo (I remember ripping your Dookie album into mp3) hahahaha
Writer positions on May 30, 2010
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