Celeb trashes guitar, Trump
BILLIE Joe Armstrong pulled the ultimate rock-star move at Cannes Lions on Wednesday, throwing his guitar into the pool after closing his set at a Live Nation and Citi bash with, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” “Ohman, that’s a rental,” one of his crew was heard exclaiming. “It costs $5,000.” The Green Day frontman played a number of his hits and covers by the Ramones and David Bowie on a stage built over the pool at the luxurious Villa Alang Alang, which rents for $191,500 for the five-day festival. “I grew up in a refinery town,” Armstrong said looking over his shoulder at the view of the Côte d’Azur. “This is a winery town!” shouted a guest. Before launching into “American Idiot,” Armstrong got political. “It’s so important that we look out for each other and we show compassion for humanity and our neighbor. I don’t know who it is in France, but in California, it’s called Mexico.” He then leaned into the mike to whisper, “I f - - king hate Donald Trump. It’s like acid gone wrong. LSD and the alt-right, what the hell? I didn’t think this s - - t was going to happen.” Armstrong, whose son Joe played drums, also revealed how he met his wife in Minneapolis while touring when he was 18, and shooting bottle rockets at her outside a club. “I was a dork,” he stated. The pair wound up becoming pen pals — with him sending her records. He continued to reminisce, saying being in a band “was always about building a like- minded community. The weirdos and the freaks who wanted to see something cool and be a part of something cool or uncool.” Armstrong also recalled a tale about the late Chris Cornell, saying he told him he once got kicked out of a Soundgarden show for stage-diving. “He’s like, ‘You shouldn’t have done that young man.’ He was joking.” The intimate bash, known for being the single hottest ticket of the Cannes Lions week, was hosted by Live Nation Global President of Media and Sponsorship Russell Wallach. About 200 guests attended with senior execs from Vox Media, Asics, Anheuser-Busch, Cisco, Pepsi, CBSInteractive, Diageo, Twitter and more who mingled among the manicured grounds. As for that guitar . . . we hear it was fished out of the pool and given to Jennifer Breithaupt, global consumer CMO at Citi.