What happens in Vegas....

So I woke up to something interesting this morning. Green Day had stormed off stage at a festival, with the informing tweet accompanied by the quote; "I'm not fucking Justin Bieber, you fucking motherfuckers!" Well okay then...

As it turns out, Billie Joe Armstrong was wasted and Green Day were instructed to get off stage after there time was cut almost in half (apparently Usher over-played but that wasn't an issue?) and so BJA was, somewhat understandably, pissed off. However, it wasn't his best performance by any means. The band as a whole are on great form right now - a new album released this week, and another 2 to come within the next 5 months, followed by a world tour. So what the hell went wrong? Some, including me, would say nothing. But others would argue that last night's performance was atrocious.

It was clear for everyone to see from the moment the first vocals of American Idiot kicked in that BJA was.... Well, wasted. His vocals were off-key, and he was even more over-the-top than he usually is. Getting a female fan on stage and being slightly handsy, for lack of a better word, as he gave her a hug and, quite blatantly, squeezed her arse. Now there's nothing abnormal about BJA feeling up a fan. He's well-known for kissing and touching male fans when they least expect it, so I'm guessing he is an equal-opportunities groper.

But it wasn't just the assets of others that Billie Joe was revealing to the crowd present, as well as those watching on the stream - partway through the performance, he lifted his shirt almost to the extent that it was coming off entirely, as well as pulling his pants down far enough to reveal his v-lines and at least some of his pubes.  A lovely treat for all the female, and male, fans wishing to swoon over the man, I'm sure.

But onto the rant. Yes, that rant. The one where Billie Joe said more F-bombs in 1 minute than many people have said in a month. It all started when Billie Joe seemed to get, I suppose, bored of Basket Case halfway through the song, declaring he was going to play a new song. Then he heard the news... "One fuckin minute?"

And from there, that minute was possibly the highlight of the evening. BJA cursing out the organisers of the, mostly, mainstream pop music festival as well as some of the other acts performing, such as Justin Bieber and, earlier in the set during a new song entitled It's Fuck Time, name-dropping Rihanna. And then, of course, Billie Joe started smashing up his guitar. And of course, in an act of solidarity amongst friends, bassist Mike Dirnt joined in, smashing up his bass as well. This continued until the neck of BJA's guitar was separated from the body, at which point he put his middle finger up to the crowd and declared "One fucking minute. God loves you all. We'll be back..."

And was this a bad thing? Will this put a negative spin on Green Day just before they release 3 albums and announce a UK tour? Of course it isn't. It shows the band as they used to be. At the forefront of punk. Snotty, bratty children who don't care what people say.  And that's part of why I love them. And despite what happened in Vegas, they're still one of the biggest, best bands in the world and I'll still love them.