And then there were none.
Short story: The concert is postponed. Billie Joe's in the hospital.
Edit: So now I'm hearing that he DIDN'T go to the hospital. Good. I don't know for sure what happened, all I heard was what security people were telling us, so - if you hear something else, by all means correct me. I'd be happy to hear something else. *G*
No, he's not dead, or dying, as far as I know. Not that I know that much, but whatever. I worked myself up for basically nothing and now I'm going to type it up and get it out of my fucking system. I should add that I'm incredibly worried and that I'm trying not to think too hard about it.
So I went to get lunch with my cousin (whom I haven't seen in years) this morningish, and that was all well and good, and then I booked it home, printed out my concert ticket, grabbed some water, etc etc, and darted off to the venue to wait in line. I called my mom on the way, and asked her to bring me some food while I was waiting in line so I wouldn't lose my spot, and like the luvverly woman she is, she agreed to bring me taco bell around 4:30 - gates were supposed to open at 5:30.
There weren't many people there yet when I got there, but I thought I'd tool around the venue a bit and see if the tour buses were there yet, and I hadn't gotten more than like, fifty feet past the main gate when these two girls ran up to me all excited demanding: "HEY!! Were you the girl at the Cleveland show who knit a scarf for Billie Joe and his wife?!"
Me: *dies* "Um...yes. That was me."
Them: "OMG WE REMEMBER YOU!! AHAHAHAH!"
We were fast friends from that instant on and spent the rest of the day together (I'll get to that in a minute...) So after much fadiddling around, in which we got a nice security guard to take us inside so we could all pee (this was around 2:30), we finally settled in with some other people at the front to wait. The only people in front of us in line were these two girls who had gotten to the Nutter Center at SIX THIRTY IN THE MORNING. *jaw drops* Dayum.
Anyway, after a few trips to the Speedway gas station across the street for drinks, and pissing, and hiding of disposable cameras IN THE CROTCH OF MY PANTS (said camera smells of said crotch at this point, it's kind of hilarious) we were all waiting around in line getting more and more agitated/excited/worked up/BLAH. Luckily it really wasn't hot outside at all, and it was overcast, so we were pretty comfortable even if it was rather humid. We got really bored and started drawing on ourselves with Sharpie marker, and right now I have "RAGE" and "LOVE" in huge letters on the inside of my left and right forearms, respectively, and then Mandy got fancy and wrote "cock" in shmancy letters on the outside of my right forearm. *Dies* And I have the Kerplunk! flower drawn on the back of my right hand. All in black sharpie. Hooboy.
Around 4:30 ish, I was making this comment to one of the girls I was in line with, "ha ha, wouldn't it be funny if one of the band members randomly wandered by, just to piss us off" and then SERIOUSLY not TEN SECONDS LATER one of the other girls up front with me is frowning and rapping on the glass door and this dude at the merch counter looks up at us - and it's Mike, with his dark hair and dark suit and AHAHAHAHAH OH GOD. within about five seconds the glass doors were plastered with screaming people, and he was just grinning and waving at us, and he struck this dorky pose and darted off. *Dies*
So, my mom, being the wonderful woman that she is, called me and asked me what I wanted - and when she found out I had made line-friends, she asked what they wanted, too, and brought THEM food as well. She got there around 5:15, shortly before the doors were supposed to open, but we were all so nervous we could hardly eat.
5:30 comes and goes. The security guards harass everyone about studded belts and wristbands, and I stuff my said wristband down my pants, beacuse I'm scared to leave my spot in line. 6 o'clock hits, they tell us they're having sound check difficulties. Right, okay, whatever, I'm kind of getting edgy, becase I've seen GD three times this year already and they're always right on time to start their shows. So this is unusual for them. I ask one of the guards just inside the door if they could take me to the bathroom, escorted, and bring me back, so I don't lose my place in line, and to my surprise, proving that he's not a dick, he did so. Very nice of him, he didn't have to do that...
It's not til around 7, when the show is supposed to START, we finally hear news that the show...has been postponed. OMGWTF? I asked around of a lot of different security-type people, and here are the stories I hear:
-Billie Joe "stopped breathing" and was rushed to the hospital.
-Billie Joe's "throat swelled shut" and he was rushed to the hospital.
-Billie Joe was "having some problems with his throat," was taken to urgent care, and was told by a doctor that they could not guarantee that he would be able to sing the five other shows this week if he insisted on performing this evening.
Whatever the case, the show is postponed, and they're trying to re-schedule a date that they haven't announced yet.
I stuck around for awhile, because the traffic was hellish; I signed up for a contest with one of the local radio shows, which would win me two tickets, paid airfare and a paid hotel stay in California to see GD at the Wiltern. *...dies* and I toddled around back to the tour buses out of probably a misplaced desire if I could find out WTF was up, or if maybe the other band members (Mike/Tre/the guys of Jimmy Eat World) would do some fan-service by way of apology, or something. I dunno. Mostly boredom/let-down.
And while I was back there, I was pointed out which buses were whose, and I saw Joey and Jakob, Billie's two little boys, get on the big black tour bus. They were so SMALL! and wearing safety helmets, obviously because they were riding around on a tiny little skateboard and a tiny little bike. And I just could not bring myself to take their picture. It felt very wrong. I saw Mike's girlfriend get on the same bus with them, escorted by a guard, and then security made us leave. Adrienne was obviously there too, if her babies were there, but I didn't see her, or Tre. Or Billie.
SO, in conclusion...that kind of sucked. And I have "cock" written on my arm in sharpie marker.
*dies*
Edit: So now I'm hearing that he DIDN'T go to the hospital. Good. I don't know for sure what happened, all I heard was what security people were telling us, so - if you hear something else, by all means correct me. I'd be happy to hear something else. *G*
No, he's not dead, or dying, as far as I know. Not that I know that much, but whatever. I worked myself up for basically nothing and now I'm going to type it up and get it out of my fucking system. I should add that I'm incredibly worried and that I'm trying not to think too hard about it.
So I went to get lunch with my cousin (whom I haven't seen in years) this morningish, and that was all well and good, and then I booked it home, printed out my concert ticket, grabbed some water, etc etc, and darted off to the venue to wait in line. I called my mom on the way, and asked her to bring me some food while I was waiting in line so I wouldn't lose my spot, and like the luvverly woman she is, she agreed to bring me taco bell around 4:30 - gates were supposed to open at 5:30.
There weren't many people there yet when I got there, but I thought I'd tool around the venue a bit and see if the tour buses were there yet, and I hadn't gotten more than like, fifty feet past the main gate when these two girls ran up to me all excited demanding: "HEY!! Were you the girl at the Cleveland show who knit a scarf for Billie Joe and his wife?!"
Me: *dies* "Um...yes. That was me."
Them: "OMG WE REMEMBER YOU!! AHAHAHAH!"
We were fast friends from that instant on and spent the rest of the day together (I'll get to that in a minute...) So after much fadiddling around, in which we got a nice security guard to take us inside so we could all pee (this was around 2:30), we finally settled in with some other people at the front to wait. The only people in front of us in line were these two girls who had gotten to the Nutter Center at SIX THIRTY IN THE MORNING. *jaw drops* Dayum.
Anyway, after a few trips to the Speedway gas station across the street for drinks, and pissing, and hiding of disposable cameras IN THE CROTCH OF MY PANTS (said camera smells of said crotch at this point, it's kind of hilarious) we were all waiting around in line getting more and more agitated/excited/worked up/BLAH. Luckily it really wasn't hot outside at all, and it was overcast, so we were pretty comfortable even if it was rather humid. We got really bored and started drawing on ourselves with Sharpie marker, and right now I have "RAGE" and "LOVE" in huge letters on the inside of my left and right forearms, respectively, and then Mandy got fancy and wrote "cock" in shmancy letters on the outside of my right forearm. *Dies* And I have the Kerplunk! flower drawn on the back of my right hand. All in black sharpie. Hooboy.
Around 4:30 ish, I was making this comment to one of the girls I was in line with, "ha ha, wouldn't it be funny if one of the band members randomly wandered by, just to piss us off" and then SERIOUSLY not TEN SECONDS LATER one of the other girls up front with me is frowning and rapping on the glass door and this dude at the merch counter looks up at us - and it's Mike, with his dark hair and dark suit and AHAHAHAHAH OH GOD. within about five seconds the glass doors were plastered with screaming people, and he was just grinning and waving at us, and he struck this dorky pose and darted off. *Dies*
So, my mom, being the wonderful woman that she is, called me and asked me what I wanted - and when she found out I had made line-friends, she asked what they wanted, too, and brought THEM food as well. She got there around 5:15, shortly before the doors were supposed to open, but we were all so nervous we could hardly eat.
5:30 comes and goes. The security guards harass everyone about studded belts and wristbands, and I stuff my said wristband down my pants, beacuse I'm scared to leave my spot in line. 6 o'clock hits, they tell us they're having sound check difficulties. Right, okay, whatever, I'm kind of getting edgy, becase I've seen GD three times this year already and they're always right on time to start their shows. So this is unusual for them. I ask one of the guards just inside the door if they could take me to the bathroom, escorted, and bring me back, so I don't lose my place in line, and to my surprise, proving that he's not a dick, he did so. Very nice of him, he didn't have to do that...
It's not til around 7, when the show is supposed to START, we finally hear news that the show...has been postponed. OMGWTF? I asked around of a lot of different security-type people, and here are the stories I hear:
-Billie Joe "stopped breathing" and was rushed to the hospital.
-Billie Joe's "throat swelled shut" and he was rushed to the hospital.
-Billie Joe was "having some problems with his throat," was taken to urgent care, and was told by a doctor that they could not guarantee that he would be able to sing the five other shows this week if he insisted on performing this evening.
Whatever the case, the show is postponed, and they're trying to re-schedule a date that they haven't announced yet.
I stuck around for awhile, because the traffic was hellish; I signed up for a contest with one of the local radio shows, which would win me two tickets, paid airfare and a paid hotel stay in California to see GD at the Wiltern. *...dies* and I toddled around back to the tour buses out of probably a misplaced desire if I could find out WTF was up, or if maybe the other band members (Mike/Tre/the guys of Jimmy Eat World) would do some fan-service by way of apology, or something. I dunno. Mostly boredom/let-down.
And while I was back there, I was pointed out which buses were whose, and I saw Joey and Jakob, Billie's two little boys, get on the big black tour bus. They were so SMALL! and wearing safety helmets, obviously because they were riding around on a tiny little skateboard and a tiny little bike. And I just could not bring myself to take their picture. It felt very wrong. I saw Mike's girlfriend get on the same bus with them, escorted by a guard, and then security made us leave. Adrienne was obviously there too, if her babies were there, but I didn't see her, or Tre. Or Billie.
SO, in conclusion...that kind of sucked. And I have "cock" written on my arm in sharpie marker.
*dies*