Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong says Eddie Van Halen cried when they met

"It was an emotional thing"

Billie Joe Armstrong and Eddie Van Halen

Author: Scott ColothanPublished 18th Jan 2024

Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has revealed that Eddie Van Halen cried when they met each other.

Ahead of the release of their 14th studio album ‘Saviors’ this Friday (19th January), Green Day appeared on The Howard Stern Show this week for an interview and to perform live.

During the chat, Billie Joe Armstrong told Howard Stern that the very first concert he attended was Van Halen four decades ago.

“When I saw Van Halen in '84, I was 12 and they were my favourite band and I cried,” Billie Joe said. “Because Eddie was so… it's like his guitar playing came from a different place. He reinvented how to play guitar, but they also wrote great songs and I think that that's the main thing I took away from Van Halen is the songs which are so f---ing great.”

Asked if he ever met Eddie Van Halen, Billie Joe replied: “Yeah, I did. It was right when Van Halen got back together with David Lee Roth. Me and a bunch of friends got on a plane and we went to go see him in Kansas City, because we didn't want to do it in California because we knew it was going to be a s---show.

“It just seemed like a lot of people were there hobnobbing (in California) and it was like a lot more celebrities and rock stars and things like that backstage.

“So I was like, ‘let's go somewhere where it's in the heart of where rock fans are’ so we went to the Midwest to go see him play and they were incredible.”

Commenting on what the experience of meeting Eddie Van Halen was like, he continued: “It was kind of an emotional thing. First of all I went back and I met Wolfie who was super cool, and then they were like, ‘do you want to meet Eddie?’ and I was like, ‘Oh my God!’

“So he's back there and he's got his guitar on. He's plugged in and it’s like he's talking to me and shredding at the same time and I was just like, ‘Oh, my God!’ I don't know if anybody really knows this but the size of his hands (were) gigantic and I grabbed his hands and I looked at them and I was like, ‘Dude, your hands are so…’, (and) he's like, ‘Oh, I got arthritis now and blah, blah.’

“Then this really insane thing happened where he kind of started crying. He looked at me and he put his hand behind my neck like this and he goes, ‘you're the only one that understands me.’ And he just had tears coming down his eyes.

“I didn't really know what to say. I was like, ‘man, you have no idea like how much you've meant to me as a musician and as a songwriter.’ He’s like ‘people think I'm an alien was the way I play’. And I'm like ‘dude, it's all about your songs.’ (Eddie goes) ‘Exactly, exactly!’ And then it was just really kind of heavy experience.”

Green Day perform five UK and Ireland concerts in June taking in stadiums in Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin and London in June 2024 alongside a headline appearance at Isle of Wight Festival.

The band will be performing both ‘Dookie’ and ‘American Idiot’ in full at the shows together with other songs from their back catalogue.