Green Day Hometown Pop Up Shop in Oakland
To celebrate their hometown show at Oakland’s O.co Coliseum on August 5th, 2017, Green Day wanted to do something extra special for their fans leading up to the big day. Mirrored Media teamed up with Warner Bros. Records to produce an ultra-exclusive pop-up shop for two days prior to the show.
The event was hosted on August 3rd and 4th at 1-2-3-4 Go! Records just north of downtown Oakland, a place with no shortage of Green Day lore. The stage wall in the pop-up space had a chunk taken out of it from when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong smashed his guitar there during a show years ago.
Fans were encouraged to arrive early to grab select merchandise only available during the two-day event. It was a Green Day fan’s paradise, featuring exclusive merchandise, limited edition cassette box sets, skateboard decks, vintage band photos, original album artwork and props, custom neon signage, and actual instruments owned by the band members themselves. Green Day’s eclectic 28-year catalogue played through a vintage Hitachi boombox that is pictured on the cover of their 2016 album, Revolution Radio. Fans were even treated to free coffee courtesy of Oakland Coffee; locally-owned and co-founded by Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt.
One of the highlights and fan favorites was the arcade claw machine, which was fully wrapped with band art on the outside. Inside, it contained Green Day’s signature stuffed pink bunnies, which fans had the opportunity to win with any purchase in the store. Especially determined customers aimed for one of the rare green bunnies, of which only 25 were produced.
A TV also looped content from the Green Day-distributed documentary Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk.
Turn It Around gave us the opportunity to tell the story of the East Bay punk rock scene, a scene that’s a sacred thing to me, Mike and Tré and to a lot of others who were there at the founding and who helped to shape the genre,” said Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong.
Fans lined up early on the first morning with a line around the block soon after. The shop was officially opened by Green Day’s mascot for the Revolution Radio tour, Drunk Bunny, along with the Oakland A’s mascot, Stomper. The two battled for the store keys at the front entrance; each one wanting the privilege of opening the pop-up. Ultimately, Drunk Bunny prevailed, though both Oakland legends welcomed guests into the shop as they posed for pictures with fans.
With a line out the door for the majority of the two-day event, merchandise flew off the shelves. Oakland fans truly felt the hometown love, and the band members even took a few keepsakes of their own, showing that this was more than just another pop-up. This was home.
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