Grace, Beauty And Sheer Rock 'n' Roll

Grace, Beauty And Sheer Rock 'n' Roll. The only words I could possibly use to describe the 30/10/09. Walking through the cold Manchester City Centre, majestic and beautiful, the cold trickle of rain running down my face. The hustle and bustle of the rush hour traffic and people walking home from hard days at work, only just manages to null the sound of wind and rain crashing against buildings. After half an hour of weaving through the arrogance of the city I arrived at the Manchester Evening News Arena to see Green Day live in concert.




In the lobby of the arena there is 16,000 people waiting to see there favourite band, people buzzing with excitement. In the lobby me and my brother met this pair of girls, I think they had travelled down from Scotland. People like that show how great Green Day's fan base is and how dedicated their fans are. When the time came we found our seats, high up into the arena. We sat and waited for a while. 16,000 rock fans urging towards the stage that the lights would go down. The atmosphere was unbelievable. After about 20 minutes, the lights went down and the roar of the crowd bellowed out as proud as a lion in his forest. The crowd was a lion, and the arena was our forest. The flashes of light like cats eyes in the dark, the opening track of Green Days Latest album Playing in the dark. Green Day came running out on to stage all happy and smiles. So relaxed for a band about to play 3 hours worth of songs to 16,000 people. The band had such a presence on stage, especially Billie-Joe. Never before have I seen a man hold thousands of people in the palm of their hands. But he did it, with such ease, such grace. Ripping through hit after hit they strummed their guitars and banged their drums like it was the last show they would ever play. After 3 hours of hit after hit and the crowd going absolutely mental for the favourite band. The show ended with just Billie-Joe and his guitar leading the chorus in a rendition of arguably their biggest hit. The band left stage. You could sense everyone was in awe at what they had just witnessed. A band of many talents, soundtrack of teenagers lives, one of the biggest bands on the planet at this time. Cementing their status in rock history, cementing their places in my life, forever.



Such a powerful image, from the best night of my life.