An AMAZING, once-in-a-lifetime kind of night...

Ok, so I will have more stories from the rest of my weekend home, but the one I want to share with you all is about the most fun night I have had in, well, maybe forever.

See, when I arrived at the airport on Tuesday to fly home, I found that my flight was cancelled. Not wanting to inconvenience my family by having to drive me back the next day, I went ahead and accepted the free hotel stay for the night. I arrived at my hotel by the airport at around 5p.m. and wandered to the hotel restaurant for some dinner. I was sitting there, thinking about how I'd probably just go up and watch American Idol and then go to bed, when I remember a post I had seen on Perez Hilton. This post described a tour that GREEN DAY was going on where they were playing under the pseudonym of Foxboro Hot Tubs. The show in New Orleans was last night, in a very tiny little club, for $20 at the door. I was disappointed that I was flying out earlier in the day... originally.

So it hit me.. I could try to go to the show! But was it too late? How would I get there? Did I really want to spend the cash getting downtown with no guarantee of getting in? I made my way back to the front desk to ask how much a cab would be to downtown. Too expensive. BUT, the shuttle was heading back to the airport at that moment. So, I made the split decision to hop in the shuttle (no makeup, no changing clothes from my "plane" clothes, just GO). I went to the airport and surveyed my options. I found the airport shuttle to downtown hotels for $15. Score. The woman asks me what hotel I am going to, I say none, I just need to get downtown. She states I have to be going to a hotel. I say to her, "have you heard of Green Day?" to which her eyes go big and she says with her New Orleans accent, "HAVE I HEARD OF GREEN DAY?! Do you know what they did for us? At the Superbowl!?"

Sidenote: Green Day is heralded in New Orleans. Their song, Wake Me Up When September Ends, was popular when Katrina hit in late August. It became the theme song for the hurricane, with some lyrics so relevant at that time. Many people there still believe it was written FOR the hurricane! Add to that their performance with U2 of the Saints Are Coming at the next Superbowl, designed to bring tourism back to New Orleans, and they are heros. They are embraced by New Orleans as adopted sons, in the same vain as Brad Pitt :)

So I explain the situation and she is amazed. She immediately says "ok, I am going to say you're going to the Sheraton." I make it as far as the Marriott before I just hop out and tell the driver I am getting out there. It's now 7:00p.m. I make it to the club and am enthused by only about 50-100 people already in line. So I line up.. and wait.

The wait is amusing.. the line keeps getting bigger and bigger. As people walk down the street, they inevitably stop and ask what we're waiting for. The people in front of me enjoy simply saying Foxboro Hot Tubs and laughing at the looks of bemusement. I am a bit more forthright and tell people "Foxboro Hot Tubs"... and then right as their face shows their lack of interest... "who are actually Green Day." That reels them back in, and their shock is amusing to me. Many of these people then join the line.

We slowly started seeping in (wound up being they didn't even sell out!) The venue is small - VERY small - and I know these type of venues like the back of my hand - I can stand there at the front forever, but why, when people will just push their way up anyway?? So I sidle up to the bar and proceed to chat and drink.. and drink.. and drink some more. It is New Orleans after all!

By the time the band takes the stage, I am feeling fine. And there they are, in all their amazingly cheesy, Rod Stewart-hair-I-wear-my-sunglasses-at-night fantasticness! Billy Joe Armstrong.. er.. I mean, the Reverand Strychnine Twitch was simply amazing and threw himself into every single rock star move in the books. We're talking throwing drinks on the crowd, pouring beer down fans throats, throwing out a t-shirt, bringing a woman on stage, laying back on the crowd (almost crowd surfing). But, for all those rock star moves, the music was SO good. They rocked and rolled and that crowd was jumping. SO. MUCH. FUN!!!!! I've never seen anything like it. They had so much fun, the crowd had so much fun, they made every other show I have ever seen look like lame cover band versions of themselves. I am a huge fan now.. for them to have the ingenuity to go out and pull off shows like this is so admirable.

The show ended and I wandered up Bourbon St. in search of my favorite daquiri shop. Eventually, I hopped in a cab back to the hotel. As is the norm, even after two years, the cabbie and I could only talk about our experiences during Katrina. I wonder if that will ever change.

I did catch a couple videos, but they aren't that great - you weren't supposed to have cameras and there was a deranged family/friend of the band standing on a balcony sending security to any camera she saw (she needs to get over herself, that was pretty lame. Just enjoy the damn show).

Better descriptions than mine of the show:
http://blog.nola.com/music/2008/05/foxboro_hot_tubs_aka_green_day.html
http://www.nola.com/living/index.ssf/2008/05/pseudogreen_day_rocks_one_eyed.html

Videos from the show - THAT I TOOK! (Someone accused me of stealing their videos, so I am putting this clarification in here.)