Mike Dirnt Says It's Nerve Wracking Playing Live After Billie Joe's Rehab
Posted by Joseph Lee on 03.13.2013
They're ready though...
In an interview with NME, Mike Dirnt said that playing live is going to be "nerve-wracking" after Billie Joe Armstrong's stay in rehab.
Green Day will headline this year's Reading and Leeds Festivals along with another show at London's Emirates Stadium in June. The shows come six months after Armstrong left rehab after a breakdown in Las Vegas in September 2012 and admitting he was addicted to alcohol and insomnia pills.
Dirnt said: "It's nerve-wracking playing these shows after Billie Joe's rehab. The shit really hit the fan but we're ready to get the fuck out of home again. It was the first time in my life I've ever been in a position of being scared for my friend's life. We're a very close band. We don't want our personal lives in the tabloids, but this was as real as it gets. I was shocked. The first thing I did the next day was call Billie and go, 'What the fuck, dude? you're in a bad place, you've got to get better.' and you know, he took it seriously. You could sense it coming. That's the shit thing, you knew something was going on but you don't know that's the reason his backpack would sound like a baby rattle when he put it on. We're a close band but it's personal shit. You don't want to be like, 'Hey man, what are you doing?'. You look around and everyone in the world is on pills and alcohol these days."
This will be the band's third time headlining the festival after 2004 and 1995. Other headliners include Eminem and Biffy Clyro, who will be joined by Foals, Nine Inch Nails, Fall Out Boy, Chase and Status and System of a Down.
