Green Day’s set at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas was cut in half last night so that the performer before them, Usher, could be given more time. That’s just the way things work and, although it’s not fair, it happens all the time at festivals, which are reliably unpredictable. No one told Billie Joe Armstrong, though. When a screen flashed that Green Day only had one minute left, he stopped “Basket Case” and went crazy.
Oh, f*ck this sh*t. I’m gonna play a f*cking new song. F*ck this shit. Give me a f*cking break. One minute left. One minute f*cking left. You’re gonna give me one f*cking minute? Look at that f*cking sign right there — one minute. Let me fucking tell you something, let me tell you something, I’ve been around since f*cking 198-f*cking-8. And you’re gonna give me one f*cking minute? You’ve gotta be f*cking kidding me! You’re f*cking kidding me. What the f*ck! I’m not f*cking Justin Bieber, you motherf*ckers. You’ve gotta be f*cking joking. This is a f*cking joke. I got one minute — one minute left. Oh, now I got nothing left. Let me show you what one f*cking minute f*cking means. [smashes guitar] One minute. God f*cking love you all. We’ll be back. (Via)
Here’s a GIF!
I’m torn: the Green Day fan in me, the part of me that thinks Warning is an underrated pop-punk masterpiece and listened to all of Kerplunk yesterday, is screaming YAY PUNK SHOW THE MAN HOW IT’S DONE. But the other, larger, more rational side of me is saying, in the fashion of Billie Joe, “F*ck you, Green Day. You think you’re so f*cking punk and better than everyone just because you’ve been around since f*cking 198-f*cking-8, despite the fact that you f*cking played at something called the iHeartRadio f*cking Music Festival in Las Vegas to a bunch of f*cking tweens. And you didn’t look f*cking punk when you smashed your guitar, Billie Joe, or at least tried to — you looked like a 40-year-old man throwing a f*cking temper tantrum. BLINK-182 RULES.”
Phew. It’s fun talking PUNK. Also, for what it’s worth, Justin Bieber wasn’t even at the festival. But hey, Green Day got paid and the audience didn’t have to hear the “new song.” Everyone wins!
UPDATE: Green Day posted the following on their Facebook Wall Sunday afternoon:
“Billie Joe is seeking treatment for substance abuse. We would like everyone to know that our set was not cut short by Clear Channel and to apologize to those we offended at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas. We regretfully must postpone some of our upcoming promotional appearances.”
Good luck getting rid of those pink Justin Biebers, Billie.
(Via Gawker) (GIF via)
