When I went to see Green Day at the Wiener Stadthalle, I was not expecting the trip to end in a hospital.
I’d never needed medical attention in a foreign country before – well, maybe I had needed it, but I hadn’t sought it. I got knocked out by some steel-toed boots in 2013, but I asked to go back into the pit with blood still gushing from my nose. The sheer Parisness of the Paris crowd in 2017 gave me bruised ribs. Billie Joe Armstrong’s arse gave me a concussion at a Longshot show, but I still went and got a tattoo to commemorate the trip. I didn’t really… get the chance to keep going in Vienna.
But I had such a great time in Vienna and honestly, the whole story and its characters are kind of iconic. You have permission to laugh. If you only want to read about the hospital experience, skip to the end. If you’re a music fan, I hope you also enjoy reading about the shows and the crazy queuing we did! I’ll write a separate post for my photos of Vienna.
Contents:
Night 1
I say ‘night 1’ as if it actually began at night, when in reality the queue began at 5PM on the day before the show…
I met two friends, Sarah who’s also from the UK and Adam who now lives in Berlin. These were the first back-to-back arena shows Green Day had played in Europe in years. We were sure that queuing so early was necessary to get up front, so we made ourselves comfortable on some benches. A few fans passed and asked us if we were queuing already. None of them joined us. They just left, amused and/or baffled.
The sun set. As darkness descended, the area began to feel sketchy. We sang Jesus of Suburbia in full with an audience of some random middle-aged men smoking around a campfire, but eventually even they disappeared. There was no sign of anyone else at all, let alone other fans who intended to stay. Regardless, I unrolled my sleeping bag. Adam and Sarah moved to other benches, but Adam’s bench had cursed vibes, so he came back. It wasn’t very successful. None of us slept.
[Jaws music begins to play]
A window across the road flew open and a man shone a torch into our eyes, telling us to shut up or he’d call the police. Adam apologised in German but the vibe had kind of died. It was getting cold. I don’t remember when it was, but at some point a lovely German fan called Eve arrived and we moved into the lobby of Sarah’s hotel across the street. A cleaner looked at us, looked away, then looked back again. He was very confused. I woke up and sat bolt upright like a cartoon character when someone said there were people arriving.
We returned to the Cursed Benches. They all felt cursed by then, although that particular one was extra cursed. The sun rose and no-one else had arrived (the two who did had different tickets), so this episode of Extreme British Queuing was completely unnecessary. We’d survived though!
The cold, cursed night faded into a warm and welcoming morning as people finally began to arrive from all over Europe. There was a lady from Mexico living in Poland, a dad and daughter from the US living in France, and one fan who’d come all the way from Chile on his own!
Friendship bracelets were given out by a sweet fan called Lilli, and we chatted to a 63 year-old lady, Helen, who’d come from Hull on her own and took some fantastic 3D photos. It was a perfect example of how Green Day’s music brings together people from all walks of life.
[Jaws music becomes Baby Shark]
There were two types of VIP tickets: ‘Calling All Saviors’ and ‘Welcome to Paradise.’ The latter, which Sarah had, included a stage tour. Adam and I nervously watched a long line of them going in first, unsure if we would be able to join Sarah and if we’d even get good spots at all.
Over 24 hours since we arrived, we were finally let in and waited in another queue. We held hands to make sure we weren’t separated once the floor was in sight. There was no way we could get to Sarah, but we got great spots on the catwalk and those 24 hours were all worth it.
The support act was Wunderhorse. I tried to like them, but my limited patience didn’t go very far. Every song seemed to go on forever and they didn’t interact with the crowd at all. However, we could see what an amazing view we were going to have once Green Day came on.
The Drunk Bunny stumbled on and off. Green Day opened with American Idiot. A few songs in, a lady we’d queued with got onstage to sing Know Your Enemy! Then we heard the drums opening 86 and we LOST IT. We were both screaming incoherently. I doubt anyone around us could hear Billie Joe over us screaming ‘WHAT BRINGS YOU AROUND?!’ Adam filmed a video and literally, all you can hear is the two of us. Well, I mean, we were like that all night, but during 86 we were actually quite… monstrous.
The atmosphere was incredible though. No matter what kind of lives we all led and whether we could understand each other, we were all lost in the show together.
In Longview, Mike Dirnt pointed at me and I have to admit that I acted like a fangirl. Also, Adam is Tré Cool’s biggest fan and I was like… I swear I’ve seen Tré winking and sticking his tongue out at Adam?
I was thrilled that Green Day played Waiting, although the people around me were saved by me filming it for my mum who couldn’t be there. You can hear me singing towards the end though…
Other highlights were Jesus of Suburbia and Bobby Sox. Ever since I did the Green Day history tour of the Bay Area, Jesus of Suburbia has hit me like a train and I’ve relived everything the American Idiot album has ever meant to me. Bobby Sox is always a highlight and that night, Billie took Adam’s pride flag! He even carefully ensured that Adam got it back.
Once the show closed with Good Riddance (Time of Your Life), Tré ran onto the catwalk with his bucket of drumsticks. He stopped directly in front of us and threw a pair to us. The floor becomes a zoo once those sticks go out, but for once in my life, I actually caught one! I gave it to Adam since it meant even more to him, but then security let us have another one so I had one for my mum too.
We did not plan to camp out again. It was completely unnecessary, after all. However… as soon as the chaos died down, we turned to each other with stunned expressions and said, ‘we’re queuing.’ It was one of the best shows we’d ever seen. We were on a high. Another round of ridiculous queuing would be worth it.
[The ‘run away’ part of Baby Shark starts, but no-one hears it]
Night 2
Naturally, we recruited Sarah for our Very Ridiculous Plot. People were still leaving the venue as we strode straight up the steps to the gate where we were let in the previous night. We made ourselves comfortable, but we kept feeling these little pinpricks. I searched for whatever foliage was impaling us but instead I found… ants. Thousands of them. Everywhere. They were biting us. We moved back to the Cursed Benches, but enthusiasm for the camp was declining. We were still pulling ants off our clothes. Adam wanted a shower. I wasn’t that keen on returning to my hostel because a snoring man in my dorm was an absolute foghorn – and I will take ants over snoring at that volume – but a shower didn’t sound too bad to me, either. We decided to retire and come back later.
I was starting to feel a bit… twitchy. Walking back to the hostel, Adam’s and Sarah’s voices were echoing in my head long after I said goodbye to them. I kept glancing around thinking someone was talking to me. The shower was glorious, but Snoring Man was so loud that even my on-ear headphones didn’t block him out, and I hardly slept.
Sarah was the first to get back to the queue. No-one else was there. I hurried off to join her. What little sleep I’d got hadn’t stopped me twitching or hearing these weird echoes of voices. I knew they weren’t real and I was just sleep deprived – or so I thought – but they were so noisy and incessant that I still kept glancing around. Despite how exhausted we were, whatever curse was on those benches prevented anyone sleeping longer than 15 minutes.
But we felt fine once the sun rose. Well, I mean, I was still twitching and hallucinating, but we’ve already established that my past experiences included getting tattooed with a concussion, so this seemed quite mild.
[Baby Shark is now screaming ‘RUN AWAY, DOO-DO-DO-DO-DO-DO, RUN AWAY’]
As predicted, even getting back that early was unnecessary. No-one else showed up until much later.
The titles Queue Dad, Queue King and simply Dadam have been applied to Adam thanks to his numbered list of everyone in the queue. In the afternoon, we made a short trip to Sarah’s hotel to ensure our make-up was as gay and obnoxious as possible (see photo). That pride flag didn’t survive entry though… it had to go in a bin.
We ended up in the exact spots we had the previous night, but this time Sarah was with us.
I’d definitely run out of patience for Wunderhorse and their lack of interaction at this point, but at least they blocked the hallucinations out. I was still twitching and I felt like I was about to pass out, but surely I was just tired? Nothing to worry about.
With the previous night’s incredible show fresh in our minds, we went even crazier when we saw that filthy bunny suit on the second night. We were jumping and screaming all the way through American Idiot.
We had a feeling that one of us was getting onstage at one of these shows. My girlfriend had the feeling and she wasn’t even there. After hearing that the girl who got up the previous night never got her spot back, I decided I didn’t want it that much, so I pointed at Sarah and Adam. Billie Joe looked at us, turned around, then turned back again. His eyes locked onto Adam.
‘He knows it? OK, get your ass up here.’
Billie hugged him with the biggest smile. Joy radiated off both of them. Honestly, it was one of the best and most energetic fan performances of Know Your Enemy that I’ve ever seen. It was especially incredible, even for me as a queer woman, that Adam got up there – that Billie Joe chose him without hesitation – wearing a Pansy Division shirt and generally being so proudly queer during Pride Month. I’m sure there were some closeted kids in that crowd who left feeling seen and inspired.
Adam did a great stage dive, but then the crowd dropped him! He ended up with sprained ribs. It did mean he was able to get back to us though. I hugged him as he climbed back in and he was just stunned. Billie Joe smiled at him, checked he was safe and gave the ‘OK gesture’ to say he did great. The whole thing was perfect.
Then a few songs later, Green Day played Forever Now! Unquestionably one of their top three live songs. I have no idea how we were all jumping and screaming considering how tired we were (and that I was still twitching), but we were. I don’t think we were quite as obnoxious as we were in 86 when they played Stuart & the Ave., but it was close. Before Dilemma, Billie Joe sang a bit of Stay the Night and this #trilogydefender4ever SCREAMED. Although they play She all the time, they hadn’t played it the previous night, so even that was a nice surprise. Bobby Sox was, as always, a highlight.
But other than Adam getting onstage, my favourite moment of all was when Billie Joe returned with his acoustic guitar as confetti was still fluttering to the ground. We didn’t know what he was about to play, but it wasn’t Good Riddance. In the softest voice, he began to sing, ‘we’re living in repetition…’
And I was not hallucinating when the shortened version of Redundant echoed hauntingly around the hall:
‘Condemning the same old schtick,
Over and over and over, rollercoaster
Now I cannot speak, I’ve lost my voice
Speechless and redundant
‘Cause I love you’s not enough, I’m lost for…‘
Then he smiled and played Good Riddance. The first show was my favourite of the two overall, but that haunting rendition of Redundant is my clearest memory.
We trudged out feeling as stunned as ever and began to say goodbye to our friends, new and old. I stepped away to video call my mum and tell her how incredible it was. Eventually, I returned to the Cursed Benches and sat beside Sarah. We were talking to my mum. The twitching was getting worse, but I thought I’d be getting some sleep soon. All good…
The hospital
…And the next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance and there was blood all over my hands from where paramedics had inserted a cannula. I saw several concerned faces, including Sarah’s, before the door slammed. I was saying, ‘no, no, no.’ A stern voice replied, ‘you are going to the hospital.’ I promptly threw up all over myself. Adam was there, telling me he had my phone and driving licence. My throat was parched and I couldn’t move any of my limbs as I asked him, ‘which song was I pulled out in?’
‘You… weren’t? The show had finished. We were outside.’
‘It’s so embarrassing that the band saw me throw up all over myself,’ I said, even though it had just happened there in the ambulance, not at the show.
The sirens were on. I will admit I was terrified then. Whatever had happened – and I had no idea – it was serious enough to warrant sirens when we weren’t even in traffic. Once I could understand, the paramedics patiently explained that I’d fainted and had a seizure. I had to be checked out by a doctor.
My head was still fuzzy. I still couldn’t move. Being immobile was actually terrifying, too, if I’m totally honest. I’d never had a seizure or anything like it before. No-one could tell me why or how it happened until I’d seen a doctor, but the paramedics were incredibly kind and patient.
Well, they were apparently glaring at Adam and wouldn’t let him come until he claimed he was my brother. I need to say that I’d met this hero once prior, and after getting onstage with Green Day, he didn’t even hesitate to pretend to be my brother and signed something to join me in an ambulance. My mum – who was still on the phone when the seizure happened – has a vivid memory of his Dad Voice saying, ‘I’m her point of contact.’ He was still wearing pink eyeshadow and a Pansy Division shirt.
After what felt like forever – it was at least 20 minutes, possibly 30, and at first the paramedics weren’t sure where we were going – we arrived at an emergency department in the middle of nowhere. Before I could be admitted, I had to prove I had travel insurance. I gave Adam my passcode, found the insurance number, and he disappeared for a while with my phone.
The paramedics needed their stretcher back. I was still struggling to move. They had to hold me to stop me falling while I clambered onto a hospital bed. Then they wheeled me into a dark waiting room, full of grey-haired people in pyjamas who did not look impressed with the personification of a pride parade that had just crashed in.
I saw a lovely nurse who referred me to an equally lovely neurologist. Adam remembers him being interested in why we were being so stupid for Green Day, but I just remember him saying, ‘I can’t stop you going to Luxembourg and Amsterdam, but I would advise against it.’ There was a week between the shows and I was supposed to be spending it in Cairo. Lifelong dream. However, my flight was the following day and the doctor really didn’t think that was advisable. Even I agreed with that.
The doctor arranged a CT scan to ensure there was no brain damage. We returned to the waiting room with our disapproving audience. I don’t want to downplay how traumatic it must have been to witness the seizure – and in all honesty, I’m still a bit shaken myself – but I’m the kind of person who laughs at my misfortune, so at this point I could see the funny side. I mean, we did all that unnecessary camping. I had a seizure in the middle of talking about someone’s unfortunate hard-on. I asked which song I was pulled out in despite seeing the whole show. Then we ended up in a hospital wearing UV-reactive makeup. I think that was when I asked for a photo to commemorate the whole experience.
We seemed to be waiting forever for the scan, too. I’m not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t a pair of men in tracksuits wheeling me off into a rickety minibus. They were very adamant that Adam couldn’t come with me. I felt like I was on a Ryanair bus with some randos who were not qualified to be on the airfield. They were asking me who I went to see, what kind of music Green Day played, and whether or not I enjoyed the shows. I told them about ‘my friend with the blue hair’ getting onstage. They were confused but also like, ‘woooow!’
Meanwhile, Adam was chain smoking and watching videos of himself onstage. I can’t believe we were both so relaxed – well, other than being embarrassed that the band saw me throw up on myself when they didn’t.
I even seemed to be in the Ryanhealth™ Bus forever until I was finally delivered to a tent, also in the middle of nowhere. The lady doing the CT scan was as lovely as her colleagues. She stuck some pads on me and the scan was soon done. The Ryanhealth Bus took me back to the waiting room. I was telling Adam about the Tent of Mysteries when we heard… it.
‘ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGFFFFGHHHHH!’
Adam went out for a cigarette to find out what the hell was going on. A half-naked man was screaming incoherently. My friends from the Ryanhealth Bus tackled him to the ground. As Adam took a selfie, the Ryanhealth men – who were apparently fully qualified health professionals – produced a huge needle and stabbed the man with it.
He was strapped into a wheelchair and joined us in the waiting room, where he kept screaming until he was wheeled off into another room. The screams gradually faded away. I don’t think either of us will ever forget that ‘ARRRRRRRGGGGGGHEEEEUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGFFFFGHHHHH!’
The neurologist eventually confirmed there was no brain damage. He was sure dehydration caused the seizure and that I wouldn’t have another one, but just in case, I wasn’t allowed to drive for six months. He wished me safe travels. My legs were still shaking and felt like they’d immediately fold, but with Adam’s help I made it outside and he called an Uber. Some of my stuff was still in Sarah’s hotel, so I gathered what was left in my hostel and then we walked to the hotel, passing the Stadthalle where Green Day’s crew were still transferring gear to trucks.
The next day, Sarah helped me through a very unhelpful Ryanair experience. The last minute journey cost a fortune and I’m sad about Cairo now, but at the time I didn’t care at all. Nowhere was as interesting as my own bed with my wonderful mum and girlfriend fussing over me – and my friends on WhatsApp, reminiscing about 86, Redundant, Adam onstage, the screaming man and the Tent of Mysteries. Thanks to them, I have no bad memories from Vienna.
[Baby Shark sings, ‘it’s the end, doo-do-do-do-do-do!’]
Hopefully you’ve learned three lessons from this: stay hydrated, get travel insurance, and if you’re twitching and hallucinating, don’t ignore it. This is proof that these things can happen to anyone. There is no history of seizures in my family. As we established early on, I’ve ignored concussions and bruised ribs, but this time I had no choice – I just woke up in the ambulance. The bill is almost €2,000. I don’t even want to know what it would have been in the US.
But I’ll end with a lyric more appropriate than Baby Shark: For what it’s worth, it was worth all the while. Actually, wait. WHAT BRINGS YOU AROUND?!
Atlas and a Camera 