In a House With Unlocked Doors… Part 6

In a House With Unlocked Doors… Part Six

By Sharon Mitchell

Rocktober

It was a long time between the American Idiot tour in 2005 and 2009, and so when Green Day announced a cluster of dates in the UK in October, a plan was quickly formed.

“We should do all of them.”

“We should get a mini-bus.”

“We should get a logo – something recognisable.”

And that is exactly what we did. A large chunk of us did every mainland show, with a few intrepid souls venturing to Ireland for the two dates there (while the remainder of us had a few day’s rest!). The bus was a 16 seater and Graham had to resort to a spreadsheet so that we didn’t overbook. Our house was used as a base for the London shows, and the logo idea was taken care of by a very sweet man – Jason Chandler, singer / songwriter with The Frustrators. What a star he was – he put the image on a couple of sites and we were able to order shirts, caps and badges with our name on them. The Rocktober Movement was formed.

The first show for us was in Glasgow – and it meant meeting a few legends, such as GDA’s J’net Newton. We arrived at our hotel and she had already got the first round of Cosmos in! Then she asked me if I would like to go into soundcheck as her guest – and of course, I said yes. That meant that out of all of our friends, my man was the only one not to get a pass. On the day, we lined up as directed, and Graham waited with us until we went in. A security guy checked us and double checked to make sure only the right number got in, and when Graham said he was just waiting for us to go in before he joined the regular queue, he was pushed into the line with a wink. He got into a soundcheck without a pass – that does not happen, and yet it did. Magic.

Soundcheck was great, and I managed to give Mike a present I had made for Billie. After making lots of terrible jokes about it, he took it and gave me a pick, pressed into my hand. He’s such a sweetie. We were allowed early entry, and later, on the barrier, Mike came over to me and mouthed ‘He got it.‘ I got some great shots, and Rocktober was well and truly under way.

Our next shows were the two at the O2 Arena, where literally dozens of friends appeared, and both times I ended up on the barrier, or one row behind. Mike spotted the Frustrators shirt I was wearing, and posed for me all night, as excited as a five year old about it, and the person I was with got an aftershow party pass thanks to the boy in front of us who got pulled up to play Knowledge. After the last encore, i followed the signs to the party, and asked one of the permanent crew where I should wait, as I didn’t have a pass, but the person who was going in had travelled to the gig in my car – and he let me in! Again, NOBODY gets into an aftershow without a pass, but I did. More magic.

There followed a date in Sheffield, two in Birmingham, two in Manchester (at one of which Foxboro Hottubs performed three songs – the first time ever outside of the USA) and then a final date in the UK at the Wembley Arena. So many of our friends got on stage, or their glasses or hats worn by Billie and thrown back, and both Billie and Mike reacted to the signs we held up with requests – or my “welcome home, boys” message. In short, many of us had our dreams come true at these shows.

But Wembley wasn’t the final date. Green Day had a surprise for us – in the form of an intimate Foxboro show afterwards, halfway across London. Now the magic truly began.