Green Day's Intimate Halloween Show at Webster Hall Studio [10/27/11]

It’s shortly after 3 am, and, to be honest, we are still high from seeing Green Day rock the Studio at Webster Hall. The surprise show was announced mere hours before tickets went on sale Wednesday afternoon, and quickly sold out. In minutes. The show was promoted as a Halloween extravaganza, and did not disappoint in the least.

There’s just too much to say about the two-hour performance. We could delve into the band costumes, with Billie Joe Armstrong as a Beetlejuiced-Jack Skellington and Tre Cool as a pink fairy. Or the amazing show opener, in which Billie Joe mashed up a few hits (“Basket Case,” “Time of Your Life”) to a super-cool arrangement of “Monster Mash.” Or we could also ramble on about how the Bay Area rockers covered Elvis’ “Blue Moon of Kentucky” and the Misfits’ “Hybrid Moments” three (count ‘em) times in the first set.

But, screw it, we’d rather focus on the intimate energy of the room, where a few hundred die-hard fans squeezed tight amidst sweat and terrible odor. Ah, the fragrance of punk! It was like being fifteen again and back at an all ages punk show. Costumed crowd surfers aplenty vaulted themselves to the stage, bopped with the band and then dove back in. Even a sauced-up Billy Joe took his turn diving into the pool of hands, but not before swinging from the building infrastructure. There wasn’t much action from the security people until the second act when things really started to heat up.

We could sense that after the first act of mainly newer material, the audience craved the old standards. That’s when the moshing broke out. The crowd ebbed and flowed with the rhythmic tide of power chords from Dookie favorites like “She” and “Welcome to Paradise,” as well as “Geek Stink Breath,” “2,000 Light Years Away,” and “Paper Lanterns.” ~~The latter being~~ “Going To Pasalacqua” was the penultimate track of the evening before the Monster Mashup returned to close out the night.

Full Set list:

Monster Mash
Hybrid Moments (The Misfits cover)
Carpe Diem
Oh Love
Make Out Party
Sweet Sixteen
Stop, Drop, and Roll (Foxboro Hot Tubs cover)
It’s Fuck Time (Foxboro Hot Tubs cover)
Blue Moon Of Kentucky
—-
Murder City
Letterbomb
Hitchin’ a Ride
Geek Stink Breath
She
Welcome To Paradise
2000 Light Years Away
Paper Lanterns
Going To Pasalacqua
Monster Mash Outro