By Sohyung Kang
Everyone has that one album that can define their youth. For me, that album was Green Day's Dookie. I played it on repeat so often, my brother physically pried it from my hands one day because it was driving him crazy. I was 11 years old when the record came out and established Green Day as a breakthrough punk rock band. It took me fifteen years, but I finally got to see them live last night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The concert was just as I'd imagined it would be: Lots of stunts, pyrotechnics, fierce drumming by Tré Cool, plenty of joking around by Billie Joe and enough songs from Dookie to please the older folks like myself.
Yet there were still plenty of surprises. The band brought in a saxophone player to perform a few songs with them. Billie Joe sprayed the front rows with a water gun and a toilet paper-shooting gun. At one point, he brought a fan on stage and forced him to dive into the mosh pit.
The highlight of the night was when Billie Joe asked the audience if anyone knew the guitar chords to "Jesus of Suburbia." After some searching, he finally found a girl named Stephanie — who claimed to know the entire song by memory — and brought her on stage with him. She wasn't kidding, as she held her own with Mike and Billie.
I'm sure Stephanie will never forget this concert. Neither will I — even if I didn't jam on a guitar on stage.
Click here for more photos from Green Day's performance at Madison Square Garden!