Green Day mash punk, arena rock together for Pittsburgh extravaganza

The music setting the mood for Green Day’s concert Sunday night couldn’t have been more fitting.

First came “Bohemian Rhapsody” from arena rock heavyweights Queen, followed by the punk anthem “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones and then a mix of “The Imperial March,” “We Will Rock You” and “I Love Rock and Roll.”

Green Day’s stadium show at Pittsburgh’s PNC Park mashed all those disparate elements together into an impressive spectacle that felt huge yet personal at the same time.

The Saviors tour celebrates the 30th anniversary of 1994’s “Dookie” and the 20th anniversary of 2004’s “American Idiot” from Green Day — singer/guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool.

After opening with “The American Dream is Killing Me” off their “Saviors” album from earlier this year, Green Day wasted little time in getting to “Dookie” in its entirety. An inflatable explosion, paying homage to the album cover,” served as a massive backdrop.

“Dookie,” which served as an entry point to punk rock for many people coming of age in the 1990s, features a lot of fast, hard-hitting songs like openers “Burnout” and “Having a Blast,” which saw Armstrong don a Pirates hat thrown to him from the crowd.

All night, Armstrong served as a punk rock ringmaster, imploring the crowd to jump, wave their arms, make noise or, as on “Longview,” put down their phones to “let’s be here right now.”

As part of the arena — make that stadium — rock experience, an inflatable plane (also on the album cover) was paraded around the field, dropping inflatable bombs with “Dookie” emblazoned on them. A dingy pink bunny wearing a Pirates jersey pumped up the crowd before the show, and other costumed creatures cavorted under the plane.

There were fireworks, falling sparks, red streamers and nicely synchronized blasts to punctuate key moments, not to mention the massive video screens on each side and two more digital displays, with one often offering split screens of the three main band members.

More from Green Day at PNC Park pic.twitter.com/uzCCKIDbFz

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) September 2, 2024

The band buzzed through “Dookie,” highlighted by “Basket Case” and “When I Come Around.” A fiery “F.O.D.” led to the hidden track of “All By Myself,” which Cool sang solo while wearing a leopard print bathrobe. After chucking the robe, Cool quickly returned to the drums to resume the show with a sort of interlude before the “American Idiot” run-through.

“Know Your Enemy” started it off, with Armstrong pulling up two fans to sing the bridge, followed by three songs from “Saviors.”

“Dilemma” started off with a snippet of “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty, and then Armstrong and Dirnt lived out “a dream come true” as they were moving their guitars in sync at center stage, something Armstrong claimed they’d never done before.

“We got to be like Judas Priest,” he said. “That was (expletive) awesome!”

“Brain Stew,” one of many songs where Dirnt’s bass features prominently, led right to the title track from “American Idiot.” Much like “Dookie” served as a gateway, the punk-rock opera “American Idiot” played the same role in the early 2000s. Just as there had been a themed image for the “Dookie” set, this one featured their iconic hand holding a heart-shaped hand grenade.

As he’s done through the rest of the year, Armstrong changed one lyric on “American Idiot,” going from “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda,” drawing a huge cheer.

During a stellar “Jesus of Suburbia,” a few rain drops started falling and continued through “Holiday,” which appropriately features the line “hear the sound of the falling rain.” The light drizzle mostly stopped but briefly returned during “Give Me Novacaine,” prompting Armstrong to compliment the “beautiful Pittsburgh night” and change “So give me Novacaine” to “So give me (expletive) rain).”

A moving performance of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” was augmented by thousands of phone flashlights.

Billie Joe Armstrong asked for lights on “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and he got them + a crowd shot during the final song pic.twitter.com/qzjHukpeIa

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) September 2, 2024

Two other highlights from the “American Idiot” section were “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and “Letterbomb,” with Armstrong giving his most impassioned talk of the night.

“Right now is about love and joy and some (expletive) hope, and we’re all here together. We got families and our friends, and we’re thinking about the ones that we lost because this is unity,” he said. “Right wing, left wing, what the (expletive)? We’ve got to get our (expletive) together. Everybody, right now, gay, straight, trans, whatever. Everybody, leave each other the (expletive) alone.

“Because tonight, it’s no (expletive) political party. Tonight is not even a (expletive) party. Tonight is a celebration!”

“Homecoming” and “Whatsername” concluded the album, but despite playing two full albums and seven other songs, Green Day wasn’t done. Again, there were no breaks, which Armstrong addressed: “We don’t do encores. We just fall down when we’re done.”

After an energetic “Bobby Sox,” also from their new album, Armstrong joked that “now I’m ready to (expletive) fall down.”

With an acoustic guitar, Armstrong at last ended the marathon night with “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” as Dirnt and Cool joined him in a celebration.

Related

• Jack White tears through heavy, ripping set in intimate Pittsburgh show
• Green Day, Oultaw Music Fest, Luke Bryan highlight September's top Pittsburgh area concerts
• 2024 Pittsburgh area concert calendar

The Smashing Pumpkins seemed a little out of place compared to the rest of the bill, but that didn’t stop them from blasting through an hour of their hits and some cuts that might have been unfamiliar to those who hadn’t listened to anything by them after “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.”

Dressed in a black, shin-length robe/gown, frontman Billy Corgan led the band through heavy openers “The Everlasting Gaze,” “Doomsday Clock” and a cover of U2’s “Zoo Station,” which showcased powerhouse drummer Jimmy Chamberlin.

The Pumpkins’ hit parade include “Today,” “Tonight, Tonight,” “Disarm” and “1979.” Corgan, who seemed to battle some hoarseness in his voice at times, wisely ducked out on some of the throat-ripping yells on “Bullet With Butterfly Wings.”

All three guitarists had their moments to shine, with James Iha using a toy ray gun on several songs including “Zero,” Corgan on “Jellybelly” and new addition Kiki Wong on “That Which Animates the Spirit.”

Before “Cherub Rock,” Corgan dedicated the song to former Pirates reliever Kent Tekulve, which left Iha looking befuddled. That seemed appropriate, as many in the crowd had similar feelings when NWA wrestlers Bryan Idol and Natalia Markova came on stage and exchanged blows midsong. (Corgan is the owner of the wrestling promotion.)

More from the Smashing Pumpkins in Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/EjG3ND1NGy

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) September 2, 2024

Bay Area punk veterans Rancid, with dual lead singers Tim Armstrong and Lars Frederiksen, delivered a dose of punchy punk tinged with reggae and plenty of singalongs.

In their 30 minutes, Rancid played five songs from “…And Out Come the Wolves,” with songs from five others, including their most recent album, 2023’s “Tomorrow Never Comes.” They saved their two biggest songs for last: “Time Bomb” and “Ruby Soho.”

Before “Time Bomb,” Frederiksen shared a story from watching the Pirates play the Giants during his childhood, paying particular note of Tekulve.

“That (expletive) put a list of swear words together that I had never heard,” he said. “It blew my (expletive) 7-year-old brain. It just went bam.”

Rancid setting the stage for the Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day pic.twitter.com/CVNh1qqkT9

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) September 1, 2024

Three of the four members of openers The Linda Lindas weren’t even born when Green Day’s “American Idiot” was released on Sept. 21, 2004. (The fourth, guitarist Bela Salazar, was only five days old.)

Making their first appearance in Pittsburgh, the all-female quartet each took turns on lead vocals, opening with “Too Many Things” off their upcoming album, “No Obligation,” due out in October.

The group packed as much fun as they could into their 20-minute set, with bassist Eloise Wong sporting cat whiskers, drummer Mila de la Garz in a Campbell’s soup shirt and a man dancing in a cat head. They closed with a sludgy version of their “Racist, Sexist boy,” the song they went viral for back in 2021.

.@thelindalindas opening the show at PNC Park pic.twitter.com/aZH421ipln

— Mike Palm (@MikePalmMedia) September 1, 2024