While most people know a song or two by a little-known band named Green Day, they may not venture much further into the band’s repertoire other than their radio hits. This was the case for me until I began a deeper dive into their discography more recently, and realized that the amount of Green Day songs I didn’t know was criminal.
After seeing them on Aug. 17 at Target Field, I can confidently declare them to be one of my favorite bands of all time, as their performance was unmatched in its wealth of energy, undeniable talent and phenomenal setlist.
Upon realizing Green Day would be performing in Minneapolis this summer, one of my closest friends, Evan Trier ’25, and I immediately agreed that we should buy tickets. Despite our seats being in the nosebleeds section, our view of the stage actually wasn’t so bad. At the end of the day, we were too jazzed about merely going to care.
The Green Day Saviors Tour officially began on May 30 in Europe, and the ongoing U.S. leg kicked off at the end of July. Green Day curated a particularly unique concert-going experience: they advertised ahead of time that this tour would commemorate both the 30th and 20th anniversaries of two of their biggest albums: “Dookie” and “American Idiot.”
This meant that they would play through both albums in their entirety, in addition to new songs from their 2024 album “Saviors.” Now, hold onto your butts, because it gets even better. The three bands that were announced to tour alongside Green Day included The Linda Lindas, Rancid and The Smashing Pumpkins– the latter being a favorite of mine. Needless to say, I was delighted.
It was finally nearing the end of summer and Aug. 17 was here. I have never anxiously awaited a concert like I did this one. Evan and I arrived around 5pm, and just as security waved us through, the first opener went on stage. While seeming like an early time to start, the show did not officially end until 11pm.
The first opening band, The Linda Lindas, are a rock group comprised of all young women (two of whom are sisters), who played a set bursting with energy and enthusiasm. I was already impressed by how experienced their music sounded, but I became even more so after finding out that all of the members are teenagers, with their drummer the youngest at fourteen years old.
At such young ages, they have already established themselves as stellar musicians with well-written, catchy lyrics. Their set was relatively short, and I highly recommend listening to their EP “Growing Up”, and watching out for the release of their upcoming album “No Obligation” in October.
Rancid, a prominent punk rock band formed in 1991, was the second band performing that night. I had only heard a couple of their songs prior, and while I enjoyed their performance, I will admit I was far too busy anticipating Smashing Pumpkins’ set to fully appreciate it. Their songs “Time Bomb” and “Ruby Soho” off of their 1995 album “… And Out Come The Wolves” were my favorites.
My anticipation increased with the progression of each set, and though Green Day was the main event of the night, I was buzzing with excitement about seeing their final opener. Prior to this concert, I hadn’t realized Smashing Pumpkins released a thirty-three song album in 2023 titled “ATUM: A Rock Opera In Three Acts” as well as their 2024 album “Aghori Mhori Mei.” “ATUM” is an epic album that perfectly blends the band’s hard rock sound with their softer, indie alternative sound.
Billy Corgan, the lead singer, sang multiple new songs from “ATUM” in addition to classics like “Bullet With Butterfly Wings,” “Tonight, Tonight” and “Today.” Smashing Pumpkins sound better than ever and continue to curate a type of angst that’s not necessarily for everybody, but their hardcore fans relish it.
After a brief interlude where Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” was played to re-energize the crowd, the jumbo screens by the stage began to display graphics and pictures to signal the start of the main act. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong’s voice echoed throughout the background of a mashup of iconic rock anthems like “We Will Rock You” and “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” as the crowd cheered louder and louder. Bassist Mike Dirnt, drummer Tré Cool and Armstrong then ran out onto the stage, briefly greeting the crowd before grabbing their instruments and playing the first track from “Saviors” titled “The American Dream Is Killing Me.”
Throughout their performance, it was evident that Billie Joe Armstrong knows exactly how to interact with a crowd and keep them engaged. He consistently sang out a Freddie Mercury-inspired “Ay-oh”, holding out his microphone to the crowd so we could sing it right back to him. His regular check-ins and commands to the audience kept me grounded and focused on watching the concert through my own eyes rather than through my phone screen (he did also loudly encourage us to “put our f***ing phones down,” so I did).
The singer’s appreciation for his fans’ support is palpable and genuine, which was particularly clear during their performance of “Know Your Enemy.” Halfway through the song, Armstrong began scanning the crowd looking for someone to come up on stage and sing the next verse with him. He invited up a young girl dressed in his iconic “American Idiot” outfit complete with a black dress shirt and pants paired with a red tie. Armstrong handed the mic over to her, where she proceeded to crush it and receive wild cheers from the crowd. It was really great to see the band prioritize their fans’ experience, particularly for that girl who will never forget getting to sing on stage with Green Day.
When I say that they played for over two hours with no breaks, that is not an exaggeration. Green Day’s stamina was impressive, and Armstrong’s distinctive voice sounded amazing the entire night. As promised, the band played through the entirety of “Dookie,” an album that contains one of their most well-known songs “Basket Case,” and some honorable mentions such as “Welcome to Paradise,” “Longview” and “When I Come Around.”
I am not as familiar with “Dookie” as I am with “American Idiot,” though this concert would have been a blast even if I only knew one Green Day song in total. One of my favorite parts of the “Dookie” set was watching a blimp balloon with the words “Bad Year” fly around the stadium, designed like the blimp on the album cover.
When “Dookie” was finished, which included Tré Cool’s oddball song at the end of the album “All By Myself,” where he sang and skipped around on stage, the band played some songs from “Saviors,” including “Look Ma, No Brains!,” “One-Eyed Bastard” and “Dilemma.” Longtime fans were rewarded with a few other hits from the band like “Minority” and “Brain Stew.”
Armstrong subsequently strummed out the familiar guitar riff intro of “American Idiot” to the crowd’s utter delight. The set lights and background abruptly changed from the “Dookie” album cover to the giant “American Idiot” fist holding up a bleeding heart. Their performance of this album was my favorite of the night, and Evan in particular was overjoyed that they played through all nine minutes of “Jesus of Suburbia.” My favorite off of this album by far is “Letterbomb,” and, as the kids say, I lost my everloving mind when it started playing.
After “American Idiot” finished, Green Day closed out the concert with one of their new songs, “Bobby Sox,” and came back out for the encore with “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” As Armstrong sang out the familiar lyrics with only an acoustic guitar, Cool and Dirnt proceeded to run around him to try to get him to laugh. This has been a theme throughout the tour, with Cool and Dirnt sometimes coming out in coordinated costumes.
Despite being titled “The Saviors Tour,” only a handful of songs from “Saviors” were played, which did not necessarily bother me as I heard all of my favorites off of the new album. This tour seems to be equal parts promotion of their newer music and appreciation of their most iconic songs that cemented their status in music and pop culture across the world. More than anything, this tour has been a celebration and love letter to pioneers of the pop-punk/alternative rock genre as well as an opportunity to show off the newer faces representing the genre’s future.
If you have the opportunity, don’t be an American Idiot and see Green Day live! While it was one of the longest concerts I’ve ever been to, it was by far one of the best. It’s guaranteed to be a fun and memorable experience, complete with dozens of songs to rock out to and random girls with the words ‘Tré Cool’ written on their foreheads!
