Show Notes: Green Day didn't play because Mike was recovering from his injuries sustained at Woodstock

Unknown: "While the summer of '67 was the "Summer of Love", for Tanya and me the summer of '94 was "Summer of Green". Green Day that is. Between the two of us we had 6 copies of Dookie (one for each car, one for each bedroom and one for our portable cd players). It was OUR record, they were OUR band. Then we get the news, Green Day would be performing in Miami on Lollapalooza! There was nothing that was going to keep us from seeing our favorite band from the front row. So we quickly devised our strategy. This might be a good point to state that it was the summer before our senior year in high school and both of us were still 16 - and downtown Miami at that time was not exactly the safest place to be. FAST FORWARD TO DAY OF SHOW! Knowing how excited we were to see Green Day, there had to be people just like us so we would need to beat them to the front of the line. So, even though gates did not open until noon (or was it 1PM?) we decided to arrive at Bicentennial Park at 6AM. Success, we were the first ones there! The gates wont open for another 6-7 hours - who cares! Food or drinks? Who needs them! We were on our Green Day adrenaline. We sat there trying to guess their set list - we made our own top 10 list of our favorite GD songs - we listened to Dookie another 3 or 4 times. We were having a blast! FAST FORWARD TO OPENING OF THE GATES! Yes, we were first in line. I let Tanya in before me because, well a gentleman always lets the lady in first. But once we passed that gate it was an all out sprint to front and center of the main stage. There we were - minutes away from finally seeing them live! Things are happening on stage. Wait is that Billy Joe I see just off the side of the stage? Any minute now... OMG here he comes!!! but wait where is the rest of the band? What did he just say? Something about the band being unable to play? Mike was injured at Woodstock? They will be back soon?!? But we were here since 6AM all for you!! We were drained. Time to get out of the pit. Security! It was an unspoken gesture. Look a security guard in the eyes and throw up your arms and they would pluck you out of the crowd. So out Tanya and I go and we sit down against the side fence along the main stage. We must have sat there for at least an hour without a word spoken. I could not even tell you what band was playing on stage - we were bummed. Tanya looks at me and says well since he was on stage he or they have got to still be here and we want to meet him. So now I get to the part of the story I still like to shake my head at - between the two of us we had $120 cash on us. So 10 minutes and $120 later we were back stage looking for Green Day. If we weren't going to see them perform maybe we can meet them! But wait there weren't any names on the trailers. We literally went from trailer to trailer. We must have knocked on 20 doors before we were politely asked to leave by security and were escorted out. Unfortunately our desire to see Green Day at Lollapalooza that day ended up a bust - there were several lingering and noteworthy things that happened that day - 1) Tanya and I bonded in a way that made us lifelong friends - we still regularly talk even though we life on opposite sides of the country. 2)This is the first concert I ever took photos at. I smuggled my Minolta 35mm. Since then I have been a professional concert photographer. While it would be another 2 years until I actually got a photo pass (Lollapalooza 1996) through a publication, 17 years and 1,600 concerts I still get a thrill at each show. Attached is a photo of Tanya and I once we got home late that night. Yes, I was exhausted. (side note - winning this contest would be a dream because I would actually be at a concert as a fan and not working. Actually get to enjoy the whole thing! and yes, I am entering this contest as a fan and not for press access) Finally, my other option for a Lollapalooza story was going to be the 1992 show - one of the best concerts I ever saw - but the biggest memory was that the day after the show Miami was hit by hurricane Andrew and while we lost our house - the one thing that I took with me was my Lollapalooza 1992 ticket stub. Everything else I owned was destroyed.)"