It was one thing for Green Day to score a No. 1 album, as they did with “American Idiot” in 2004, a full decade after the Bay Area punk trio made a name for themselves with “Dookie” in 1994. But to be on the road playing stadiums 20 years later thatNo one would have called it that when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong sang about the extremes of teenage indolence on Green Day's first hit single, “Longview.”
Like the 10-times platinum “Dookie,” “Longview” came about 15 minutes into Green Day’s Saturday night show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, part of a world tour in which the band is commemorating the 20th anniversary of that album and the 30th anniversary of “American Idiot” by playing both from start to finish. And though the packed audience included plenty of adults with adult responsibilities to attend to (not to mention children to shoulder), thousands of them joyfully joined Armstrong’s voices in recalling a teenage boredom so profound that even “masturbation lost its fun.”
Green Day's Mike Dirnt performs.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
The Saviors Tour, as Green Day is calling this outing in honor of the title of its potent 2024 LP, makes no bones about the nostalgia that permeates its premise. In addition to Rancid and Linda Lindas, Saturday’s opening acts included the Smashing Pumpkins, another ’90s rock band that decades ago seemed to have little in common with Green Day (one era prog, the other punk) but can today fit comfortably alongside any group built around vintage guitars. (“Is everyone having a reasonable time?” Pumpkins guitarist James Iha asked during his band’s set, surely a way to address a Gen X reunion.)
Indeed, at several points Green Day reached back even further than “Dookie,” peppering their SoFi performance with snippets of John Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane” and Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin',” as if to argue that this is all classic rock now. Which, of course, is true, especially the songs from “American Idiot,” which became the basis for a Broadway musical that will be revived next month at the Mark Taper Forum.
The crowd at SoFi Stadium.
(Michael Blackshire/Los Angeles Times)
Yet, like the Rolling Stones, the 50-something Green Day — Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool, along with three touring musicians — still play with such energy and attitude that this throwback show never felt like a rehash. The beats were fast, the power chords crunchy; Armstrong’s bleached-out hair looked better than ever. Green Day’s stage production included the obligatory pyrotechnics and video screens, as well as an inflatable airplane that flew over the crowd and dropped prop bombs a la the cartoon cover of “Dookie.” But what drew attention was the anti-spectacle of a small, hard-core punk band singing songs about big-hearted losers and dumb politicians.
“And just like that, 20 years,” Armstrong said after Green Day finished “American Idiot,” and it was clear the number surprised him, too.
