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May 23, 2009

Green Day Concert in Central Park, NY

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4:00AM.  My husband gently tugged at me to wake me up.  I had promised my 11 year old son that I would treat him to something special.

I dragged myself out of my comfy bed and washed my face with cold water. My eyes were red from lack of sleep, but I was excited about the upcoming Adventure with my oldest son. Excited because it was so rare that I got a chance to be with him alone, without the distractions of the other kids, to do something that I knew he would enjoy.

He was a bit harder to get up, but eventually we were both dressed and managed to head out of our dark, quiet apartment, and onto the dark, quiet, still empty streets of NYC. We took the 1 train downtown.

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We were making our way to Central Park to watch the first of the Summer Concert Series being hosted by Good Morning America.  Today’s performers were Green Day, who also happen to be one of my 11 year old’s favorite bands.  My son was so excited to be going to the concert, and I even more so.  I thought on our way there about the last performance we had seen together and laughed when I realized that it had been Blue’s Clues in Radio City many years ago when he was about 4 years old.  As early as we tried to arrive, we still did not beat the hard-hard core fans who were there even hours earlier, and thus ended up on the line 2 blocks away from the entrance.

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Despite the line, we were having a good time.  The weather was wonderful, it was still somewhat cool and comfortable and the sun was still waking up slowly.  We bought a t-shirt, took pictures, and even met and chatted with a family that came in from New Jersey to see the concert, having been up since 3AM to get there!

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The line started moving and the crowd steadily made their way in.  They separated the crowds up so that not too many people were going in at once and causing road blocks.  When we were waiting behind the last barricade before entering the stage area an officer came up to the officer managing the flow of crowd and told him to only let about 20 more people in! Luckily we were right in front and made the cut off! When we finally reached the stage area, we could feel the excitement in the air!

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The wait seemed like it was going to be longer.  My son sat down for a bit.  The GMA producer and crew still had a morning show to do and so the crowd cheered to the cameras as they filmed us between breaks, and cheered to the weatherman as he did his report.  No one really expected to see the band for another 2 hours…until they came out for sound check, then the crowd went crazy!  The sound check was like a concert in itself (minus the low acoustics and constant interruption for weather reports and such). It was an awesome way to warm up for the real deal.

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At one point, the combination of having been up so early and the crowds, in addition to my  11 year old’s overwhelming excitement made him vomit.  But even as he did, he was still saying how excited he was to be there, and he couldn’t believe how great they sounded…and “Oh man, they’re playing American Idiot now!”

The truth is it was an awesome concert.  There were people of all ages there, big and small, young and old, of all ethnicities, from all around the Tri-state area. The crowd was into it the entire time, waving, singing along, and even forming a mosh pit in the middle of the crowd.  At one point, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong, had a little girl, maybe about 6 or 7 go up on stage and dance while he did his magic on the electric guitar.  The little girl danced and waved and jumped as if she was born for this moment.  At another great moment he reached out to the audience to see who would sing on stage to all the words of one song, and after a few tries, it was a young, excited African American girl who, as she caught her breath, rocked to the vocals of the song without pause or faltering, and as Billie Joe watched in awe.  Definitely a highlight of the entire event.

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photo32After an hour of music, dancing, singing, moshing, jumping, and waving, it was over.  Me and my very tired 11 year old started making our way out of the park.  We walked slowly taking the experience in, while my son quietly sang Know Your Enemy and I revelled in having shared this special moment with my first born.

Later on as we watched the replay on t.v. giving my husband the behind the scenes details, my son hugged me and said, “This was by far our greatest Adventure ever!  Thanks Mom.”  You rock Green Day!

To catch highlights of the concert as well as get a list of upcoming performances, check out the GMA Concert Series site here. 

Note that the number of audience members is limited regardless of whether you waited on line, so make sure you arrive early to stand on line before the 6:00AM admittance to the performance of your choice.

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Carol Cain

Brooklyn native Carol is happiest when on an adventure, close to home or farther away. In addition to creating Girl Gone Travel, she is the Founder and CEO of Brave World Media, a social media marketing, communications management, and brand development agency. She's mom to three wonderful sons and wife to a handsome Irish/Scot. She splits her time between her homes in New Jersey and Finger Lakes.

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8 Comments
  • Lisa
    May 23, 2009

    That was so sweet of you to get out of ur comfy bed to take ur son to a concert that he'll remember for the rest of his life. What a great mom.

    About the pics, my fave is the one with the video camera with green day on screen. What a great shot!

    You should be a professional photographer girl!! =)

    Great post, as usual!

    Reply
  • Aubrey
    May 23, 2009

    I absolutely love this post.

    It sounds and looks like you guys had a great morning…which is a neccesity if you have to get out of the bed before the sun.

    This will def be a memory your son has forever! You get extra "very cool mom" points for this excursion 🙂

    Reply
  • Evelyn
    May 25, 2009

    Thanks for sharing this morning with us! How awesome! I can remember going to a concert, and how exciting it was the first time.. I love the shot of your son sitting in the grass with all the other concert attendees standing.. and the shot of the slanted arm fists! Rock on NYCity Mama!

    Reply
  • Alida
    May 26, 2009

    What a great post! We were there, too — and agree completely — wonderful, eclectic crowd, lots of smiles, and a rollicking and rocking good time — thanks for writing it up, thanks for great pictures!

    Reply
  • ivana
    June 13, 2009

    OH MY GOSH! I WAS THERE TOO! I HAVE TO AGREE THE CONCERT WAS REALLY AMAZING!

    Reply
  • Ally
    July 20, 2009

    Wow I am going to a Green Day concert tomorrow (june 20th) with my mom and I hope we have as much fun as they did! 🙂

    Reply
  • So you've traveled to New York City. Now what? | NYCity Mama
    July 25, 2010

    […] Stage concerts in Central Park, televised on Good Morning America.  My son and I saw an awesome Green Day concert there last year and we still talk about how much fun it all was. Central Park has other ongoing […]

    Reply
  • Loosing Your Breath at Top of The Rock, NY | NYCity Mama
    November 10, 2010

    […] NYC lately has been AMAZING. The days just beg for you to be outside, laying on the grassy lawns of Central Park, sipping a cold drink in an outdoor eatery, hanging out with the kiddos at the zoo. Anything and […]

    Reply

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Hi! I'm Carol! I am a communications professional, an award-winning travel blogger, a public speaker, CEO of a social media marketing, communications, and branding agency, a wife, and a mom of 3 sons and 2 puppies. Welcome to my blog where I share stories of my travels and professional public relations insights and advice. Thank you for reading!

Carol Cain

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