MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. – Something unpredictable, but in the end, it felt right. One young Green Day superfan in St. Louis had the time of her life.

Rather than to the tune of band’s signature hit “Good Riddance,” however, it was to “Know Your Enemy.”

Nearly midway through their Aug. 15 show at Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre, a performance that packed tens of thousands and stretched more than two hours, Green Day called for a fan to come join them on stage.

That’s when local 15-year-old super fan, Nevaeh, answered the call, screaming and waving her hands to get the attention of lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong.

“It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment thing,” said Neveah. “Normally, I would never do anything like that.”

Her mom, Jenny, treated her to pit tickets as a birthday present from months earlier. On the day of the concert, they arrived early to the venue and secured a spot in the second row of fans with pit tickets.

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While waiting for Green Day to perform, Jenny reminded Nevaeh of their knack for audience participation.

“My mom had been telling me before, ‘Oh, if [Billie Joe] asks for somebody, and you’re close up, you need to go crazy!’ And I was [initially] like, ‘No, I love them, but I wouldn’t want to do that.'”

Sure enough, that opportunity came around. And Nevaeh changed her mind to embrace a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Billie Joe spotted Nevaeh and invited her on stage while the band vamped a guitar solo to buy some time. Wanting to ensure she was up to the task, he asked if she knew the lyrics to “Know Your Enemy.” She gave a firm commitment, then Billie Joe promptly asked her to sing along.

“In the videos, you can see I’m freaking out a little bit,” said Nevaeh. “I say a few wrong words, but I knew for the screaming part, that I had to do that.”

Green Day completed “Know Your Enemy” with support from Nevaeh, singing and jumping on stage. As the song ended with a warm applause, Billie Joe encouraged Nevaeh to do something even more unexpected: Take a stage dive.

“He was like, ‘Do you want to do a stage dive?’ And I was like, ‘No,'” said Nevaeh. “He wasn’t like, ‘Come on.’ He encouraged me, but he wasn’t pushing me [to stage dive].”

“After that, he said that he respected me a lot for saying, ‘no.’ And he told me that he loved me. That was a really cool experience,” said Nevaeh.

Moments later, Nevaeh was escorted back to her mom safely and welcomed with a wave of cheers. She admits she was feeling both appreciative and overwhelmed from the crowd support.

“I was freaking out the entire time. It had just hit me that I had gone on stage with Green Day,” said Nevaeh. “All of that was settling in, and I started freaking out so much, especially with everybody trying to high-five and fist-bump me.”

Nevaeh said she and her mom received text messages from several family members and friends afterwards, all sharing in the excitement.

“There were a bunch of people we knew that were at the concert that, but we didn’t know were there,” said Nevaeh. “Both of our phones were blowing up afterwards. I was getting texts from a lot of people that I haven’t spoken to in awhile.”

Green Day had already performed one of their full albums, Dookie, live before they invited Nevaeh on stage for “Know Your Enemy,” their first song after completing the Dookie set. The band then played several other hits from various eras before starting a live set of American Idiot, widely regarded as an album that cemented Green Day’s rise in rock-and-roll fame.

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Nevaeh, who says she grew fond of both albums in middle school, was thrilled that Green Day played both albums in their entirety.

“Dookie and American Idiot were like the two albums that really shaped me music wise and as a person, and what really got me into Green Day,” said Nevaeh. “It was amazing to be able to hear them play them all the way live.”

Along with the memories of meeting Billie Joe on stage and the lengthy concert, Nevaeh took home several guitar pics, T-shirts and other merchandise.

For young fans who may one day find themselves with a similar opportunity to join one of their favorite bands on stage, Nevaeh has some simple advice: Seize the moment.

“I would tell them to live in the moment. If they’re freaking out, whether it’s on stage or afterwards, I would say just ignore [that thought],” said Nevaeh. “Nobody dislikes you for it. It’s like the coolest thing ever. A lot of people think you’re really cool for going on stage.”

“Obviously, it was the greatest thing ever.”

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