Location:
Vans Warped Tour, Adams County Fairgrounds in Brighton, USA
Date:
July 9, 2000
Notes:
Tim Van Schmidt: "Searing upper nineties heat made it a challenge to take advantage of the diverse line-up for this year’s Warped Tour. Two big things, however, made the effort worth while. The first was the opportunity to see Green Day compress their pop punk intensity into a single 30-minute set, ending their energetic romp by setting the drum kit on fire. The second was the rapid-fire production that kept bands like Anti-Flag, the Lunachicks, MXPX, and the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones in constant rotation."
"Seeing Green Day at the Warped Tour in Brighton was a life and death experience for me, but obviously I lived. They were scheduled to play at 4:00, after the Mighty Mighty Bosstones set, so I figured I had some time to walk around near backstage and try to meet them. As I walked by a tour bus window, Tre Cool appeared in some funky glasses. I was like, 'Woah! There's Tre Cool!' He started throwing picks out and luckily I nabbed one. The green pick turned out to be Mike Dirnt's. So that was very cool, but now it was time to try to get to the front to see Green Day. I pushed my way to the front on the right side of the stage. I was holding on to the barrier, and my disposable camera was in hand. I was ready for the experience of my life, but first the Bosstones had to play. Then it happened. Billie Joe Armstrong came out on the stage. People started screaming and yelling! He was wearing the red shirt with black tie that I guess he's been wearing every day at Warped. By the time Mike and Tre came out, I was already getting pushed against the metal barrier. When all three were ready, they hit things off with Welcome To Paradise. The music and vocals sounded amazing. After a long day of hearing indie bands and bad mixes, Green Day's polished mix sounded like heaven. I managed to take a few pictures of the whole band from my angle, but they were mostly of Mike, because he was the closest to me. Next was either Geek Stink Breath or Hitchin' A Ride. About three or four crowdsurfers had already passed directly over me and the moshing was out of control. I was getting pressed so hard against the barrier that I couldn't breathe for about half of the time. But this was hard to pay attention to when one of the greatest bands ever is a few feet from you. one of the next songs was Longview, obviously a crowd favorite. Crowd Surfers were landing on me now, and they hit my head a few times. The security guard kept asking me if I was OK. I said yes, because there was no way I was gonna get pulled out of Green Day! Sometime during Longview, Billie Joe came over to right side, directly in front of me. He was just standing there, holding his guitar, and so I quickly took a picture. I guess he saw me take the picture because after he looked right at me, made a big smile and said cheese. I was like, 'Woah! Billie Joe just said cheese to me!' Anyways, I hope that pic turns out good. Next song was Brain Stew and that's when my fate settled. Two more crowd surfers dropped on me, which was painful, but I ignored it the best I could. The guy kept asking if I was OK, he could carry me out, I said I was fine. A few minutes later someone stepped on my shoe and I look down, and right at that moment a crowd surfer kicked the back of my head, propelling me into the metal barrier. I don't really remember what happened after that. The next thing I recall is being carried out of the pit, and taken between the stage and the crowd. The security guards gave me some water and made sure I was OK. Brain Stew was over then and Billie Joe was talking. He said something like, 'Hey, watch out for each other in there. The big kids watch out for the little ones. We don't want anybody to get hurt.' Then he looked at me and smiled. Ah! I would go through that a thousand times again just for that smile. Well, maybe. So that's that. I got a pick from Tre, I got to see Green Day, I got a large bump on my forehead, cuts on my knees from barrier, and my lungs still hurt. All in all, an excellent day!"
