It appears that Ms. Maerz and I are going through a similar phase of appreciation for arena rock shows. I was also in attendance at the Nine Inch Nails show on Friday and was equally impressed by the volume, theatrics and unhinged crowd—it’s good to be a little scared at a rock show now and then.

My orgiastic week of live music also included some exceptional non-arena performances, such as the Arcade Fire at the Paramount and the New Pornographers at the Showbox, both of which were technically top-notch and generous in duration. But the grand finale of my premature Rocktober was last night’s Green Day show at the Tacoma Dome. Dear God.

Clocking in at nearly 2 hours, their show may end up being the highlight of my year. First, there was the impact of being in such a blatantly anti-war, anti-Bush atmosphere: the ever-changing stage back drop included endlessly looping, ominous silhouettes of bomb-dropping planes while spastic front man Billy Joe Armstrong spit out the lyrics to “Holidayâ€� through a megaphone. Then there was the sheer joy of seeing such a wide range of ages in the audience: just two rows in front of me, I saw legendary old-school Seattle punk James “Babyteethâ€� Carbo pumping his fist in the air while standing next to three young girls who were so excited they had tears streaming down their faces. They capped all that with more pyrotechnics than I saw at metal shows back in the day, two cannons firing confetti and an encore cover of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.â€� My companion, Visqueen frontwoman Rachel Flotard, agreed with my only-half-joking proposal that we exclusively attend arena rock shows from now on. Next up: Def Leppard at the Everett Events Center on November 8th.