Here are a few videos from the Green Day show. I had to take them with my cell because I wasn't able to bring my digital camera. So that's why the quality is horrendous :)
Intro
'21st Century Breakdown'
'Know Your Enemy'
Interlude during 'Holiday'
The ending of 'Holiday'
'2,000 Light Years Away'
'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'
'Are We The Waiting/St. Jimmy'
The ending of '21 Guns'
The ending of 'Jesus of Suburbia'
And to close the show: 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)'
Ich werde in die Tannen gehen Dahin wo ich sie zuletzt gesehen Doch der Abend wirft ein Tuch aufs Land und auf die Wege hinterm Waldesrand Und der Wald er steht so schwarz und leer Weh mir, oh weh Und die Vögel singen nicht mehr
Ohne dich kann ich nicht sein Ohne dich Mit dir bin ich auch allein Ohne dich Ohne dich zähl ich die Stunden ohne dich Mit dir stehen die Sekunden Lohnen nicht
Auf den Ästen in den Gräben ist es nun still und ohne Leben Und das Atmen fällt mir ach so schwer Weh mir, oh weh Und die Vögel singen nicht mehr
Ohne dich kann ich nicht sein Ohne dich Mit dir bin ich auch allein Ohne dich Ohne dich zähl ich die Stunden ohne dich Mit dir stehen die Sekunden Lohnen nicht ohne dich
So this song has been done to death by everyone and their mother and I'd say 99% of those covers rip the testicles off of mine... Now that I've admitted that, I'll also admit I botched quite a bit of it as well, haha. And for some reason I knew full well that the lyrics are "made to be broken", yet I still said "meant to be broken" every time. And factoring in how my vocal range is pathetic, it makes for an interesting cover, haha...
Over 12 years ago, I was introduced to an album that made my head spin with love. I'd heard this song that my buddy's older brother put on and sang along to and it instantly caught my attention... 'Basket Case'
I listened to the rest of the cassette and was blown away by what I heard. The music was so catchy, so emotional, so angsty, I was in love. The album was 'Dookie' and the band was Green Day.
Ever since that day, I've been hooked on them. Since Insomniac, I've bought every one of their albums on the day they were released and set aside the entire afternoon to let the new album sink in and just let the album play on repeat. Each album seem to be almost mirroring my feelings in life at the time. Dookie and Insomniac dealt with the teenage angst/coming of age/temptations, mshortly after that I picked up their first two albums/collections of older EPs and such: 1,039 Smoothed Out Slappy Hours and Kerplunk! which perfectly complimented my oncoming early teenage issues Nimrod was a bit more somber and grown up, Warning was a bit softer and yet even more somber and grown up, American Idiot was a somewhat more grown up and political punk/rock opera which had me hooked instantly, and then came 21st Century Breakdown which has been in my CD player since I bought it on Day 1.
Which now brings me to today, Monday, July 20th, 2009. The day all of these years of timeless lessons and therapy sessions I've felt through their songs, I get to witness them play live. Tonight I'll be heading in to town and seeing Green Day play live. And I'm so exicted that I can't even sleep. There are very few bands that have done to me what Green Day has, and even less that are still functional today. Green Day was atop my list of bands from my youth to see before I die. The others being Nirvana, Alice In Chains, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, and Soundgarden. The only ones left in full force is Pearl Jam. Although there is a possibilty of a Soundgarden reunion, I'll believe it when I see it. Alice In Chains's new incarnation is playing a show in town in September, unfortunately none of my friends want to go see them, so I think I'll have to pass for now. RHCP has gone on hiatus again, but hopefully they'll be back in some fashion as I'd love to be there live for them as well. Rage Against the Machine is rumored to be back together and recording new material, so if/when that is a confirmed reality, a tour would surely follow and you can bet I'll be in the audience for one of them...
But yes, tonight I'll be rocking out to one of the main bands responsible of robbing society of another conformist. ;) Possibly be posting some pics as well... Stay tuned friends. :P
There's a few different stories for this song, but I'll just touch upon the main two.
The first is back when I was 13 and was suffering from depression. I'd decided that I was ready to end my life and rid myself of the relentless and constant pain of everyday life. I'd tried unsuccessfully two times before and decided that this time I'd found a foolproof way. I laid awake in my room one night, and when my brother, who I shared my room with, was sound asleep, my parents and older brother had both gone to bed, I decided it was time. I grabbed my Walkman and headed quietly downstairs to the basement where earlier I had unlocked and kept open a window to slip outside. As I got outside and felt the cool night air on my skin, I put my headphones in and made my way down the hill in my backyard. My house is just a hundred yards from a small pond through some thick woods. I stopped mid stride when I realized that I had no tape in my Walkman and opting not to go back and risk being stopped, I decided that the radio would have to do. I tuned it to a random station which I had thought was a local alternative rock station in hopes that Nirvana, Pearl Jam or Alice In Chains would be on, but this song ended up being on. For some reason with the mix of the cool damp air on my skin, the sweat pouring down my face, tears from my eyes, my body shaking, this song seemed to be perfect. Then I listened closely to the lyrics and as I sat on the dock of the pond, I broke down and cried while my mind raced; When I opened my wrists and let my life pour out into the water, what would happen? Who would find me? What would their reaction be? Then I heard, "In the arms of an angel, may you find some comfort here..." and my mind had come to a screeching halt. I was suddenly sitting in the pew of my aunt's service, hearing 'Angels Among Us' and knowing the words, everyone in tears... I don't remember much after that besides throwing the blade into the pond. I just remember waking up in my own bed in the morning and knowing that I was, in fact, still alive and that it was no dream. It stills brings tears to my eyes every time I think back. - Back in October of 2007, the younger sister of a very close female friends passed away in a car accident. It hit me extremely hard and immediately my heart was broken for their family. Her mother is a gorgeous woman and a sweetheart and both of her sisters took after their mother. The line for her wake was unreal. I had both side pockets and my back pocket stuffed with tissues just in case. the entire wait in line outside, I was smiling, comforting, giving hugs and being used as a tissue, haha. I cracked jokes to get smiles, kissed foreheads and put my arm around some to have them feel a sense of closeness... All the while inside I was drowning in the tears I was holding back. As we approached the door and I saw young girls and boys filing out by the dozen in tears, yet I still kept my composure. Stepping through the threshold I'd given up on talking because I knew the second I'd say something, my voice would crack and the tears would flow. As we walked past the pictures of this beautiful young girl, I felt my hands my hands begin to shake, my lower lip tremble and my eyes twitching. We then approached a small TV with a DVD player hooked up to it to play a slideshow along to music. The first song played and I still kept my composure, even amidst the cries and sobbing of everyone gathered. My entire being was numb, and for a second I thought to myself, OK, keep it together, we're almost through this... That's when 'Angel' began to play along to the slideshow. I glanced over to my younger brother as I could feel a single tear begin to fall from each of my eyes and I saw his face. Both of his eyes were wet and as he brushed away tears, spoiling their gentle cascade down his cheeks... I was 13 years old, on the dock overlooking the moonlit pond. This was the face of who would have found me, tears in his eyes, full of terror, horror, pain, sadness, anger and feelings of complete vulnerability... That's when the tears flowed freely from my eyes. I wept silently as not to draw attention to myself, although with the sobbing of everyone else, I doubt I'd be noticed, even if I'd screamed at the top of my lungs. We were all their to mourn a beautiful life taken way too soon.
----
This song, there isn't much of a story for me personally behind, but more for my younger brother. Earlier this year one of his closest female friends passed away after extremely strange circumstances and it broke his heart which in turn broke mine for him. Someone had made a slideshow along to a song that described her personality perfectly... And even though I didn't really know her personally, I still cry when I watch this video especially when the pictures of her and my brother come up:
RIP Gabby and Catherine Two lives taken way too soon.
So I've decided to post some songs that have very strong emotional connections for me as something different yet extremely cliché. It's gonna span a few posts because each has a story behind it to help explain these connections.
This is a song that always brings tears to my eyes and makes me instantly cry and I'm not afraid to admit it. My aunt passed away back in 1994 after losing her battle with breast cancer. I was told that she was diagnosed with terminal cancer, but back then I was in fourth grade and didn't understand what that meant. I just figured she was sick and would be better soon and we'd be back to going to my uncle's baseball games and off playing again. I remember all the times sitting next to her bed and holding her hand, the smell of the incense and candles burning, their smoke mixing together to create a sickly sweet aroma. I can still smell it and remember the feeling of my stomach turning, yet as sick as I felt, it was very calming in a way maybe even a bit peaceful. The night I was told she passed away, it felt like someone had kicked me in the gut as hard as they could. I couldn't breathe, I cried uncontrollably, I shivered violently and couldn't even stand up. My stomach turned and turned, yet I couldn't throw up even though I fought hard to purge myself of everything just to lessen the pain. It was the first close death I'd ever experienced and it nearly killed me. At her memorial service, there were hundreds (close to a thousand, no exaggeration) people. I remember sitting in the pew, seeing all these people and how she had touched all of their lives; friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and of course family. I knew less than 50 people in the entire church, yet seeing them all weep as hard as I was made me realize that even though we didn't know each other, we all were hurting from the loss of such an amazing person. Just before the service ended, they played this song which I had never heard before, and it was her favorite song. It was one of the most surreal experiences I've ever been a part of. As soon as this song started playing, I knew the lyrics. Maybe it was playing every time I held her hand in her bed, yet I'd never noticed, but somehow I knew all the lyrics, still do to this day. All I can think of now when I hear this song is all those people gathered together and hope that when I die, if I can have a gathering of even half as many as that day, then I'd consider my life worth it.
I'm sure most know that on April 5th, 2002, after a long battle with personal demons, Layne Staley passed away. The story goes like this: He died alone, in his apartment after overdosing. he wasn't found until about 2 weeks later when the police were called to kick the door down. Such a sad way to silence such an amazing voice. When I had first heard it announced, it was 10 AM and I was sitting in my grandparent's living room watching some silly VH1 show. This was a very sad day for me personally as I grew up listening to Alice in Chains and fell in love with the vocals combo of Layne and Jerry Cantrell. Alice In Chains had been on an indefinite hiatus after their Unplugged performance (which is still one of the most amazing and chilling performances I've ever seen), so the death of Layne had pretty much put a nail in the coffin of my hopes of new material as well as getting to see them in concert one day... That was until I heard that they were together and working with vocalist William Duvall. Despite a little different vocal range/style, he seem to compliment AiC's style nicely as well as adding a new/different element to move on from the Layne era. I was a little iffy on this new incarnation as Layne was such a big part of what sparked my fiery love for this band... Ok, "a little iffy" is an understatement; I was EXTREMELY skeptical, until I heard their new single, "A Looking In View".
After hearing this, any doubts I had about the new era of Alice, were completely gone. I should have had more faith in Mr. Cantrell. This new song is vintage Alice with a bit more added "grunge" to it. I'm extremely impressed with it and will definitely be picking up the new album when it's released in the near future. :)
Just a quick video of myself playing "I Wanna Grow Old With You" by Adam Sandler (from the movie The Wedding Singer) Sadly, there's no Billy Idol cameo in my version, sorry. ;)
I've always thought it was a cute song, like the type I'd write and play for a significant other.
But yes, I picked up a new guitar recently, so hopefully soon I'll post another video of a song. There's a couple I've been working on, so hopefully I step up my game and get a video of a decent rendition, haha.
So since setting up Twitter as well as facebook and other sites to be updated from my cell phone, I've also decided to set up my blog to my cell as well. Hopefully it'll get me to post more updates, haha. ;)
So here's to random pictures I take and random thoughts I think up hopefully being posted soon. :D
To me, it's always seemed that friendships and relationships just end in tears and heartbreak.
I end up throwing my heart so far ahead into things that by the time the rest of my body (and senses) catch up, it's too late.
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