Green Day performs East Jesus Nowhere with Will Ferrell on CowBell – SNL

I’m not sure if i’ve made myself clear, but i truly, deeply, lustfully love Billie Joe and he is the only one on my “list“.    My sister and I went to Ikea last week and on the way down, I confessed to her that I was hoping we’d run into him and his family there.  He lives in the east bay.  Ikea is in the east bay.  The Armstrongs are moving into a new house.  People need stuff from Ikea when they move.

Irrational as that may sound, it could happen.  So i always dress nice for Ikea.

(incidentally, i truly admire his wife, adrienne, and would be almost as gaga over her as i am him, if and when we accidentally bump into each other at Ikea)

(and another thing, it’s obvious in the video that Will Ferrell had never heard this song.  -10 pts for his tragically unhip faux pas)

Ayer, 22 de noviembre, tuvo lugar la entrega de premios a los grupos más importantes del ámbito internacional en el American Music Awards. Muchos fueron los nominados para esta 37ª edición, pero como en todos los casos, sólo unos pocos se hicieron con los premios. Como era de esperar, el más galardonado fue Michael Jackson. Pero una vez más, Green Day logró destacar. Fueron una de las actuaciones más emotivas con su canción 21 Guns. Se veía a un Billie Joe sentido, sensible y concentrado, dejando a un lado a aquella imagen loca, con sus continuos gritos para lograr conexión con el público. Sinceramente ha sido una de las actuaciones más bonitas de toda la gala, con los fuegos artificiales del final y con Christian y Gloria de fondo dándose un beso.

Green Day con el premio al mejor artista Rock Alternativo

En este festival, uno de los más importantes en el ámbito internacional, estaban nominados con  Kings of leon y Shinedown en la categoría al mejor artista Rock Alternativo. No hace falta decir quién se llevó el premio: Green Day una vez más se hizo con él y con este suman un total ya de cinco premios con este nuevo disco 21 century breakdown, más todos los que lograron con sus anteriores discos.

Fueron de los primeros en actuar, compartiendo escenario con Lady Gaga, Jennifer López, Shakira, Jay-Z…
Junto todas estas actuaciones, este festival de cobertura internacional, han logrado alcanzar los mismos éxitos que en sus 36 ediciones anteriores.

O grupo mais badalado da cena Punk - GREEN DAY

Eram quase cinco da tarde quando entrei para o comboio intercidades para fazer a viagem Porto – Lisboa com destino à estação do Oriente. O Pavilhão Atlântico foi palco daquilo que iria ser um dos melhores (se não o melhor) concerto do ano. Chegado ao meu destino, e sem tempo para comer seja o que fosse, dirigi-me o mais depressa que pude para o local do espectáculo. Perdi o concerto de abertura com os Primal Scream mas ainda não tinha entrado em cena o trio maravilha da cena Punk-Rock internacional.

Eu admito que ia um pouco cansado. Noite mal dormida seguida de uma manhã de aulas e nas primeiras músicas quase nem m levantei para aplaudir a banda. Mas não durou muito…

Uma presença em palco de mestre, a actuação do público, o convite feito a alguns fãs sortudos para subirem ao palco, a pirotecnia do palco e as chamas (sim… chamas) parecia uma coisa um pouco “hot-rod” mas funcionou às mil maravilhas. Tudo tão espectacular que eu saltei da cadeira e tive de cantar com a multidão as músicas mais fortes do grupo.

Os Green Day foram excelentes para com o público, e o público respondeu na mesma excelência para com os Green Day. Quem não foi não sabe o que perdeu… A partir de hoje tenho de me vergar à majestade da banda em palco. No final do concerto o vocalista – Billie Joe - deu-nos um solo de guitarra acústica para mostrar que o Punk não são só gritos e berros incompreensíveis.

“The time of my life”… completamente! (“,)

I was listening to my new Green Day album this morning and in the chorus of one of the songs Billie Joe went all high-pitched and falsetto on me. Why? Why do male singers these days feel it necessary to prove their squeaky credentials?

On thinking about this, I realised that this is a fast growing problem in today’s music industry – they’re all doing it. Just have a listen to U2: I’ll go crazy if I don’t go crazy tonight. Why Bono, why? Some people are clearly falsetto masters. You, sir, are not.

Of course a lot of this sudden prevalence of squeakiness can be laid squarely at the feet of the depressingly high-pitched James Blunt. That man can squeak. I do wonder how he managed to survive his army career whilst singing like that – he must have had the sh*t kicked out of him on a regular basis. It’s the playground equivalent of being the kid called Mary Christmas and having a bowel problem which requires wearing a nappy to school.

Slightly off topic, but my fiancée is a very good singer and a couple of years back we went to a local entertainment venue so she could compete in a singing competition. She didn’t want to enter by herself so I was forced into entering as well. Now anyone who has read my previous entries knows that my singing voice is not the finest in the land, and in an orgy of bad planning I actually chose to sing a James Blunt song. No, I don’t know why either.

Now if I’m being honest, as much as I protested and moaned, I quite enjoyed it – the bright lights; the microphone; being the centre of attention; that slightly bored clapping that we Brits do so well. To be fair, I was expecting a massive uproar of tumultuous applause, calls for an encore, fighting off the signature hunters… what I got actually was more reminiscent of a Lib Dem party conference – even from the stage I could actually hear the occasional snigger. Just call me Mr Clegg.

But Mr Blunt will insist on falsetto-ing as much as humanly (certainly not humanely) possible. But lady singers don’t do the equivalent do they? You don’t hear Beyonce on her new single doing a Barry White impression, do you? You don’t get Shakira rumbling the floor with her booming bass voice in the chorus. No. The ladies sing high, the men should sing low.

Of course this problem does have it roots in medieval history – well the BeeGees anyway. Three men in tight clothing singing like they’ve just been kicked in the nuts. I naively thought that this had died a death alongside the seventies, but sadly these things always come back to haunt us. Like flares. Or neon leg-warmers. Of course some retro revival stuff is pretty cool – converse shoes for a start, but most of it is pretty awful if we’re being honest.

So what to do about all these high-pitched singers? We could just wait for this squeaky fad to die a natural death, but I’m quite impatient. I’m all in favour of the playground approach mentioned earlier to be honest. It’s quick and easy, it doesn’t cost much to give Bono a Chinese burn, and the combination of sore wrists and humiliation should make them think twice before squeaking in future.

Who’s with me then? You pin James Blunt down, and I’ll fart on his head.

weekendalcoholic

For the first time in the history of my blog I have broken the 100 reader mark!  My blog has been visited 108 times so far today.  I am very excited about this.

I’d like to thank Russell Brand and Raptor Jesus for being so incredibly popular and also Ellen Page for kissing Drew Barrymore.

Also, I’d like to give a special shout-out to the real Jesus.  Thank you for allowing idiots to crudely super-impose the heads of dinosaurs onto pictures of you and include hilarious text.

"Yo, s'all good!"

I’m especially proud considering I’ve only told two people that I know about this blog and I’m pretty sure only one of them ever looks at it.  So, hoorah to me for grabbing the attention of 100 complete strangers all in one day.

So now if you’ll excuse me, I’m throwing a huge celebratory party at my gigantic Hollywood McMansion.  Tre has already drank too much tequila and is now trying to make out with Billie Joe on my sofa and I believe Ellen and Portia just arrived with a casserole.  TAH!

"Lyssie's blog had over 100 hits today!" "Oh, how marvelous! Let's get shit-faced!" "Yes, lets!"

Voltando a postar e sobre O assunto do dia, VMA!

Pra começar teve o barraco básico de toda festa, promovido desta vez por Kanye West. Tá bem que o cara não mentiu, Beyoncé merecia o prêmio, mas custava fiacr quietinho e fazer os comentários que bem entendesse depois do VMA ? Até eu que não gosto da Taylor Swift fiquei com dó, coitada, saiu arrasada e em choque e quando chegou no camarim chorou sem parar -e com motivos - nos braçoes da mãe. Pink ameaçou bater em Kanye e eu bem que gostaria de ter visto isso acontecer . Kanye até pediu desculpas depois e Taylor diz ter achado a noite interessante. Interessante é ela não querer voar no pescoço do Kanye, eu acho.

Katy Perry fez um cover de ‘We will rock you‘ - achei digno. Estava liiiinda na premiação. Lady Gaga também chamou atenção -como sempre- com as roupas nada convencionais, tanto no começo da festa quanto durante sua apresentação enfim, o tempo todo! Em shows até acho bacana, ajuda a compor identidade própria, mas para eventos acho cafona -falei. Durante a performance de Paparazzi usou um efeito de sangue, e no fim praticamente um suicidio público, foi mórbido.

Pink cantou ‘Sober‘ pendurada e fazendo acrobacias, ficou diferente e ela se saiu muito bem, parabéns pra nossa amiga circense ! Mas pra mim o show mesmo foi de Beyoncé, vária meninas vestidas ao estilo Single Ladies dançando . Não sei se já disse isso aqui, mas pra mim ninguém bate a Beyoncé. Lady Gaga pode ser considerada a nova Madonna por ter um jeito exclusivo, mas Beyoncé é realmente diva -odeio usar essa palavra mas a Beyoncé merece!

Falando em Madonna, a mesma começou a noite com a homenagem à Michael Jackson, um show a parte. Gostei da parte que executaram Thriller, tudo muito sincronizado, organizado. Ainda tivemos o trailer de Lua nova, confesso que Robert P. me arrancou suspiros mas enfim, o foco do post é outro

Além desses fatos, que considero os principais ainda teve o Muse - que achei fantástico! e o Green Day que se apresentou depois de ganhar o prêmio de melhor clip de Rock. Billie Joe chamou a platéia pra cima do palco e como é pequenininho - e muito fofo – sumiu no meio de todo mundo. Alias, Billie e suas mechas loiras ! (:

They raged for over 3 hours – non-stop, fast & furious MADNESS! Controlled Chaos.  It was bliss.  I didn’t have my camera (no cameras allowed and mine’s too big to smuggle) so this is off my hateful Razr cellphone. 

I’m at work now with less than 3 hours sleep, ringing ears and a screaming injury.   But it was SO WORTH IT. 

Billie Joe.  HOT.

(POR REDAÇÃO) –  Página Inicial

Durante um show na Califórnia, Billie Joe surpreendeu a todos quando ele burlou a segurança e beijou, um selinho, uma fã que estava na platéia.

Pelas fotos a fã, aparentemente, foi pega de surpresa, mas não há dúvidas que ela gostou…(Matéria completa)

While I’m on the subject of Lady Gaga and Billie Joe (which, frankly, you don’t often mention in the same sentence), I must say this:

Both are out bisexuals.  One I respect, and the other… not so much.

I’ll give you a hint, my respect for them is relative to the amount of clothing they wear on average.

Yep, I think Gaga’s a slut.  Sorry.  I don’t really respect her all that much and here’s why: in an interview with Rolling Stone, she said that she’s never had an actual relationship with a woman, but that her encounters with women are much more physical than emotional.

Great.  That’s just what I like to hear.  Thank you, Lady Gaga, for perpetuating the stereotype that bisexuals do not have meaningful relationships and that we can’t keep it in our pants.  Thanks a lot.

Billie Joe on the other hand has described being bisexual as ‘natural’ and ‘beautiful.’  Rock on.

So, to cleanse my mind of Lady Gaga and her garbage, here’s the link to Billie Joe’s awesome interview with the Advocate from 1995.  Enjoy:

http://web.archive.org/web/20050309020312/http://www.advocate.com/html/stories/822/822_greenday672_3.asp

Okay, so I was hanging out with my very cool friend a while ago and his taste in music is quite good.  I consider him to be very hip and alternative and I love people with an intersting taste in music.  So he was telling me about the concerts he’s excited to be going to later this year (Modest Mouse and the Pixies) and I said this:

“After seeing Franz Ferdinand AND Radiohead, which are like my two favorite bands, there’s not really anybody else I can think of that I want to see.  Except, I AM bummed I missed out on Green Day last month.”

He audibly groaned.

Now, I had a feeling he didn’t like Green Day and I have to say that the reaction wasn’t a surprise.  But why, then, would it make me slightly embarassed that he knew I like Green Day?

But... they're so cool.

Well, I guess there’s the fact that I think he’s a very cool person and I don’t want him to think I’m into something he deems “uncool.”  Yeah yeah, I’ve got a crush on the guy and I want to seem as hip as possible to impress him.  So sue me.

But it’s still weird to me that I would be embarassed about something I like.  ME!  I will be the first to admit that I jam to Britney in the car, that I have a crush on that cartoon fox from Disney’s Robin Hood, and that I lay on my floor in the dark listening to Pink Floyd at 3 A.M (and I don’t even do drugs!).  So why should I be guilty about liking Green Day?

Is it because they’re so mainstream?  People who don’t listen to mainstream music because they want to be hip and alternative are posers – and I’m no poser.  I will own up to the fact that I swim mainstream sometimes.  For instance, as much as I tried to hate Lady Gaga, I can’t because her songs are such a guilty pleasure.

“Guilty.”  There’s that word again.

Music exists for people to enjoy it.  People who make music do it to please themselves – well, that should be their only motivation, anyway.  The musicians I love most are those who unapologetically announce that they make music for themselves and people can take it or leave it.

And people can, in fact, take it or leave it.  Listen to whatever you like.  Who the hell cares?  I don’t judge anybody (too harshly) if I don’t like their music.  Sure, people who enjoy songs that are entirely void of any intelligent thought and who don’t appreciate songs for their ideas bug me.  I’m not saying that you can only listen to deep, meaningful music with a message, that’s not what I mean.  I just mean that sometimes you should sit down and listen, I mean really listen to the words.  Try to understand what the person is expressing through their music.  Just do that every once and a while.  Then you can go back to listening to Lady Gaga…  And dancing like a fool…  Like I do.

 

Let's have some fun, this beat is sick...

And as for the whole argument that Green Day have sold out and that “Old Green Day” and “New Green Day” are somehow different entities…  that’s just nonsense.  Green Day didn’t ’sell out,’ they grew up.  Billie Joe is 37 years old, he’s not a 20 year old stoner anymore.  He sings about politics because that’s what’s important to him right now.  And it’s not as if he neglects the things he’s done or what he’s written over the years.  If you go to a Green Day concert, they still play Longview and 2000 Light Years Away.  And they like to pull people up on-stage to sing and even play guitar – how cool is that?  I’d say that’s pretty giving to their fans. 

Green Day has evolved – I think it’s for the better, but that’s just my opinion.  And that doesn’t mean I like their old stuff any less.  Redundant, Waiting, and Macy’s Day Parade will always be a few of my favorite songs.  But, I just love a good concept album.  And, believe me, I CRANK Horseshoes and Handgrenades on my way to work every morning – it gets me PUMPED!  But I also love the ballads.  Last Night On Earth has a real John Lennon thing going on (and I love to hear Billie play piano).  21 Guns is turning out to be the 21st Century Breakdown version of Boulevard of Broken Dreams.  Except maybe a little less… whiny?  I dunno, I didn’t think BoBD was that bad, but 21 Guns shows how Billie’s songwriting has still evolved between American Idiot and now.  And I just think this band is getting better and better.

I know I got a little off-topic, but I just wanted to talk a little bit about listening to what you love and also why I find Green Day so freaking awesome.

That is all.

Oh, and I have a major crush on Billie Joe Armstrong.

Look at his cute wittle puppy dog face. And his big puppy dog eyes. I just wanna ruffle his hair. Like a puppy...

I’m done now.

I think I have a fairly large doll collection or at least a fairly substantial one. I keep the grand majority of them housed in my computer nook, my computer nook is a small room off of the living room that is roughly the size of a prison cell. Please note that this is not the entirety of my doll collection as I have roughly half a dozen dolls out on loan/ at the customizers as we speak.

I have almost all of the released pullips/dals (I fell behind on the newest releases because of DDs ^^;) so they make up most of my collection..

I have two displays in my living room that have somehow escaped the confines of the computer nook
My Rozen Maiden display note how the volks Hina Ichigo takes the place of pride in the RM case.

Wonderland Alice and dals display.

More Pictures available on my flickr in the oh no that is where the dolls sleep set- http://www.flickr.com/photos/pullip_junk/sets/72157621880003615/

Note to self- Tagging the massive shots like this are a bitch T_T

========================================
New York, Madison Square Garden, July 27, 2009
I knew from the moment I exited the Times Union Center that I would not experience the full impact of Green Day’s music at this concert. You see, I had seats… high into the dead zone of MSG. So very sad. Nonetheless, the crowd around me (except for the three people next to me who kept getting out of their seats) were pretty great. There were four young men in crazy hats (Kings for a Day?) who very politely let us know that if their giant sombrero hats got in the way of viewing to say something. And I did. But, my friend who went with me is a only a nominal Green Day fan and while I love her, I don’t think she enjoyed the show very much. I have sworn never to again attend a Green Day show with someone who is a nominal fan. It’s all or nothing for a Green Day show.

Green Day concert seats - MSG1

I’ve seen a few concerts at Madison Square Garden and for most of them, I’ve been in the 300 sections, high up under the skyboxes. I hate sitting there. U2 sounded like they were underwater when I saw them there years ago. I noticed the sound difference most specifically during this show when I went down toward the front of the stadium after Billie Joe frightened the MSG security guards by urging fans to (slowly) come down and fill out the pit. Looking from up above, I had a feeling he would do this since the pit on stage right had a slight void of bodies in it. Of course, as usual, I didn’t get down there in time (yes, I left my friend in the dust), and of course, as usual, I chose the wrong aisle to go down because Billie came up to the stadium on the aisle next to me. I’m pretty sure they were clearing that area anyway so that he wouldn’t trip and fall. And he didn’t! Yay! I marched back up to my seat and longed for that pit. My goodness.

High Five

Other highlights of this show for me where Billie telling the story of fighting with Adrienne over the phone when he was out with friends, while some guy drove by and said, “Fuck you Billie Joe! Green Day sucks!” Billie Joe then went on to relate how he beat the crap out of the guy, goes back into the bar, does some shots and forgets that Adrienne is still on the phone. Apparently this all took place during the tough final record-mixing time. Those days are over now, it’s all good.

I love storytime!

Green Day at Madison Square Garden 1

I think the thing that I missed most in this show was the chance to dance, play and interact more directly with the band. Billie, Tré and Mike work the crowd like you wouldn’t believe. They draw you into playtime, even if seeing them at great distances. Take it from me, the closer the better. Even if it’s only been three times so far (tomorrow’s MSG fill will make four, all this year) seeing them, I completely regret not taking the opportunity a long time ago. Oh. Well. After only a few shows, I kinda feel addicted now. Is this how all those old Deadheads felt, too? Hmm.

Liz and me at the Green Day show, MSG1

From an audience participation point of view, this show had some great moments. I can’t remember exactly when but at one point a construction hat pops out of the pit, and Billie puts it on. He throws it back to the pit a few seconds later. The construction hat will be back.

Billie in the epic-failed stage dive guy's construction hat - GDA

“East Jesus Nowhere.” What can I say about this song except for ‘thank you.’ From the very moment when the screeching, metallic quality of the chords start, a powerful moment begins which does not disappoint. The band finds a young, preferably innocent, child upon which to perform a ritual known as “saving the soul.” Sometimes the kids are scared shitless, and sometimes you get a kid like Elijah… with a Biblical name no less… at Madison Square Garden. Good times. Elijah played his part perfectly and deserved the chant that his name got. Billie was pretty good, too.

“Longview” was surreal. I don’t remember the first verse singer, but for the second verse singer, we come back to the construction hat. From what I understand, some kids from Oakland traveled from California to see the band. The guy with the construction hat being one of them. Well, he got on stage and in a heavy metal sorta Gwar-like voice started the lyrics. Which was kinda cool for a word or two. And then he stopped in the middle of the verse and made Billie sing the song. A bit of a bummer, I’d say, particularly since the second verse is the best verse in “Longview.” In recompense, Billie had him stage dive, which he gladly did. He ran down the cat walk at high speed down and…. he jumps and… nobody catches him. Oops. This clip has the scene, which ends around the 3:37 mark. LOL funny. Luckily, the last dude totally redeems the moment with a great performance and a even better stage dive. As a bonus, the clip also has Basket Case, always a winner. (Hurry before it’s too late!)

Green Day at Madison Square Garden, July 27, 2009

I think this night was the first time that they played “When I Come Around,” which may have been a request from the floor. Lots of fun signs pop up with requests, but alas, I can’t think of any right now. I was made happy by it being played. Yay! Disappearing Boy made its second appearance on the concert tour (it was also played in Albany), but on this night it was dedicated to Billie’s oldest son, Joey.

Besides the fact that Green Day played, which is the greatest thing in the world, an even greater thing happened during the 40-hour song, “Jesus of Suburbia.” On this tour the song, or portions of it, have been given over to aspiring musicians from the audience in a sort of crap-shoot way (see Construction Hat Guy). Usually it works out well. Occasionally, it works out really fabulously.

Billie began to ask the audience if they could play “Jesus of Suburbia” and was about to settle on a guy with a sign when the guy said two words he never should have uttered, “What song?” Billie looked at him said, “What song? What did I just say, dumbass?” and moved on to a girl with a sign standing next to him. What happened next was magical, and it was a good thing a professional bootlegger… uh… caught it on tape.

Picking Stephanie

Stephanie debuts with Green Day, Madison Square Garden, July 27, 2009

“I fucking love you!”*

Stephanie, from the GDC, is pretty ecstatic, as you may well believe. She got a mention in the Arts Blog of the New York Times, a bunch of other blogs, and most importantly, Larry Livermore mentioned her on his blog. You go, girl!

Elijah needs salvation from his good ways - Green Day - Madison Square Garden1*

Setlist: MSG1
1. Song of the Century
2. 21st Century Breakdown
3. Know Your Enemy
4. East Jesus Nowhere
5. Holiday
6. Static Age
7. Before the Lobotomy
8. Are We the Waiting
9. St. Jimmy
10. Boulevard of Broken Dreams
11. 2000 Light Years Away
12. Welcome to Paradise
13. Castaway
14. When I Come Around
15. Disappearing Boy
16. Sweet Home Alabama (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
17. Thank You (Led Zeppelin)/ Sweet Child O’ Mine (Guns N’ Roses)/ Take Me
Out to the Ball Game/ 99 Bottles of Beer/ Iron Man (Riff)
18. Brain Stew
19. Jaded
20. Longview
21. Basket Case
22. She
23. King For a Day
24. Shout/ Earth Angel (The Penguins)/ Swanee/ I’ll Be There
25. 21 Guns
26. American Eulogy

27. American Idiot
28. Jesus of Suburbia
29. Minority
30. Drama Queen
31. Last Night On Earth (acoustic)
32. Good Riddance

The show traditionally ends with Good Riddance performed by Billie on guitar, and some surprise acoustic numbers have come before it lately. Tonight’s show held a beautiful “Drama Queen” (my first time hearing it live), and a soulful “Last Night on Earth.”

Goodbye until next time. Like tomorrow??

I think the saddest part… and mind you, I had a super time… was not being in the pit and missing the chance to meet Adrienne Armstrong. Apparently she was asking folks in the pit to help with the natural resources project that the band is involved with, the Natural Resources Defense Council or NRDC. You know, some nature crackpots that keep talking about saving the planet or something like that. Good people. It would have been nice to say hello.

Nonetheless, I still had one more show to go. The second night of two shows is always better.*

Photos from: vcastlive.com; greenday.com; greendayauthority.com
*quoth Billie

Eu juro que eu tentei não postar essa banda porque eu não me contenho.

Ahh, dispensa biografia. Muito mais que American Idiot e Dookie.

Conheci green day com uns 11 anos, depois lançaram o AI e desde então sou completamente apaixonada por eles.  Every single day I want to go to Pasalacqua, find the paradise, and doesn´t matter if the paradise is next to East Jesus Nowhere, there´ll be nice guys with me just singing on the age of mass  hysteria.  I don´t know they, but I think I love they. Well, ´I love they ´is not enough.

Just sing us the song of the century.

Nåväl, hans illa sittande kvinnosyn reflekterar säkert det klimat som råder i Japan. Om detta har jag fått berättat för mig av både van Gogh och Billie Joe. Dock anser jag mig kunna kräva av en så insiktsfull person som Murakami att han ändå reflekterar över hur förhållandena bör te sig, att i böckerna använda i princip alla kvinnor för manlig sexuell tillfredsställelse är smetigt, ingrott och upprörande. Skriften i sig är dock synnerligen fin och omvälvande.

Ett ord jag suttit och smakat på hela kvällen: Mineola. Tänk om fruktsmaken skulle ligga närmare ordets skönhet.

i received a very exciting email this evening: Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown Digital Album was available for download! Yay!

Yes, yes, the album has been available for listen for weeks now on various commercial music websites. BUT! now, i have downloaded the official digital release, in high quality.

After getting pumped up about the new album through a series of ‘secret shows’ (more later) last month, I actually went a little overboard and pre-ordered their “limited special edition” of the album (only 3,000 copies). It includes 10” vinyls of the album, the CD, and a booklet with “60 pages of unique 21st Century Breakdown album art designed for this edition.” That edition doesn’t ship until next month, so I’ll let you know if it was a rip-off.but seeing as how i’m a green day fanatic, I doubt I’ll be disapointed with my purchase.

The download process for these digital tracks, however, was fucking stupid. Instead of having 1 friendly link to download the entire album, you must download each individual track. there’s 18 tracks. That’s not the worse part. this is:

“For MAC Users ….[t]o download the files, hold down the CTRL key and click on the download link. Then select the option to Save Link As…..In the “Save As” column in the dialog box, select download.aspx and rename the file to [the track name].MP3 (you MUST add “.MP3” or it won’t work)…”

Okay.

1. Download all 18 tracks individually with right-clicking. For all 18 tracks. OK, already not liking this. NIN.com was a lot more user-friendly with their download of Ghost.
2. Go to each individual downloaded track, look a track name and number, match with track downloaded to rename AND change file extension.     WTF.
3. Um, annoying.

While this whole process didn’t take forever, it took waaaay more time than it should. Thanks Warner Brother Records. And I bought this from you (it was a part of the Limited Edition pre-order). It would have taken far less time and effort in the end for me to download this using bittorent —tracks would be in the right file extension, properly named, and labeled.

Anyway, Green Day played a series of ‘secret shows’ in San Francisco and Oakland last month. They played at the Independent, the DNA Lounge, the Fox Theater, and the Uptown.

I got to go to the Fox Theater and the Uptown show. They were both AMAZING.

The Fox Theater was much more ‘produced.’ There was a back drop, on-stage effects, and plenty of cameras on hand. The crowd was just a couple of thousand. They played in entire album, and left the stage. After which, they came out and played another whole series of songs, which very well could have been an entire set on its own. The entire show lasted about 2 and a half hours. AMAZING.

The next evening, they rocked the Uptown, a dinky rock club just across the street from the Fox Theater, that holds about 250. 250. For Green Day. Awesome. Similar deal: they played ’21st Century Breakdown,’ left, then came back for more. No special effects. Small club. Of course, the sound system wasn’t as good, but hey, it’s a down and dirty rock show. Their ‘second set’ wasn’t as rigid —they took requests from the crowd, did some improve on stage, and seemed like they were just having fun being them. They even played Cheap Trick’s ‘Surrender’! Billie Joe crowd surfing, and Mike Dirnt stage diving. I love it.

Good night. I leave you with a picture the Uptown show:

Green Day no Webster Hall, em Nova York

O novo álbum da banda Green Day “21st Century Breakdown” alcançou o número um do Top 200 da Billboard em menos de uma semana, com a marca de 215 mil álbuns vendidos. É a segunda vez que o Green Day aparece no topo da lista. Em 2004, a banda liderou com “American Idiot”, que vendeu  267 mil cópias na primeira semana.

O álbum chegou ao primeiro lugar mesmo tendo sido lançado apenas na sexta-feira 15, e não na terça-feira, quando são lançados os álbuns nos Estados Unidos. “21st Century Breakdown” foi produzido por Butch Vig ( responsável por Nevermind) e mantém um pouco do clima ópera-rock de “American Idiot”.

Na segunda posição aparece Hannah Montana “The Movie” [68 mil]; em terceiro está Lady GaGa’s “The Fame” [41 mil]; em quarto Rascal Flatts’ “Unstoppable” [33 mil]; e na quinta posição Bob Dylan’s “Together Through Life” [31 mil].

Fonte: SRZD

Já era de se esperar vendas nessas proporções. Ainda não ouvi álbum para fazer uma análise e conferir se é realmente o que eu esperava/espero dele. Mas pelo visto acho que não terei do que me queixar!

Outra coisa muito interessante é que Billie Joe anda dizendo por aí que os shows na turnê da Inglaterra podem durar mais de 4 horas. Presentão pros fãs se isso realmente acontecer!! Espero que essa turnê venha logo para o Brasil e que os shows durem mais de 4 horas também!

Green Day’s newest album “21st Century Breakdown” is already out in stores since yesterday, May 15. The album contains 18 tracks which still follow the rock opera style of their 2004 album “American Idiot.”

In a post at www.greendayauthority.com,  Billie Joe Armstrong, Green Day vocalist and guitarist describes their tenth studio album as “a snapshot of the era in which we live as we question and try to make sense of the selfish manipulation going on around us, whether it be the government, religion, media or frankly any form of authority.”

“Created over the past three years, 21st Century Breakdown veers from hard-charging garage rockers to oversize Queen-style grandeur. Chronicling the life of a young couple as they deal with the mess our 43rd president left behind”, the band said in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

Here’s the official music video of “Know Your Enemy”, one of the songs in the album.

Green Day at the Arco Arena – this is Billie Joe performing Last Night on Earth.   MMmmmm, Billie Joe.  

This was a 3 hour 15 minute, Wham Bam Thank You Ma’am, in your face show- it made my ears bleed and my voice is shot from all my screaming and I am up after 3 hours sleep, but it was worth it… soo worth it. 

*disclaimer:  photo taken on my hateful motorola razr.  ugh.