GREEN DAY Pittsburgh PA (A Parent's Perspective) Show Review
There are few bands on the planet, especially in the punk world that when you say their name, it’s synonymous across the board that everyone knows them or at least knows of them, Green Day is one of those bands.
Since the early 90’s the West Coast punk rockers have been a damn-near household name and can be heard around the world on every mainstream rock radio station, most recently their track Good Riddance being featured on the Wolverine vs Deadpool movie in a touching tribute to Marvel movies of the past.
The band has recently celebrated the 30th anniversary of their breakthrough album Dookie which features such songs as Longview, Basketcase, She and When I Come Around, as well as the 20th anniversary of their Grammy Award Winning, then turned Broadway musical American Idiot. Green Day celebrates 20 years of American Idiot with the 20th Anniversary Deluxe version of the album set to release on October 25th of this year.
The band has now set off on what is known as the “Saviors Tour”, the title track of Green Day’s 14th studio album, “Saviors,” which was released in January of 2024.
On this leg of the tour, opening acts feature the likes of The Linda Linda’s, punk rock legends Rancid, and 90s alternative rock legends The Smashing Pumpkins. I was honored to check out the show, review it, and have the opportunity to shoot photos for all of the bands. Below are my two cents on the show!
Sunday, September 1st, 2024. GREEN DAY’s The Savior’s Tour featuring The Linda Linda’s, Rancid and The Smashing Pumpkins rolls into PNC Park in Pittsburgh,PA. It’s my first time in all of the years doing shows in Pittsburgh that I’m not only attending but shooting photos at PNC Park. The massive coliseum size of the venue is simply overwhelming.
We arrived at around 4 pm. Outside the venue where the box office is located, it looked like a total punk rock party. A giant merch stand was set up where fans could get early access to merch, food and drinks were being served, contests/prizes were happening, Green Day was blasting over the outdoor radio and the best part was the car from Green Day’s Holiday/Blvd of Broken Dreams music video was outside for fans to take a seat in and have their picture taken, free of charge!
After getting inside and finding the amazing seats we were given, it was time for The Linda Linda’s to take stage. The band entered to the soundtrack of the song Linda Linda by THE BLUE HEARTS before kicking into over half a dozen tracks in about a half hour. The band ripped through some new tracks Too Many Things, which they opened up with, as well as All In My Head off of their upcoming record "No Obligation" which is due to release on October 11th, 2024. They also played tracks from their previous record "Growing Up" including the title track of the album, "OH!", and closing out with "Racist Sexist Boy".
After a short intermission, wandering around, and running into a bunch of people that I knew were also at this show, one of my favorite bands of all time Rancid was up. It's so awesome how they're part of this stadium tour, and I truly believe they were one of the best picks to get the crowd going for this show. The band kicked off with the opening track to their breakthrough album ...And Out Come The Wolves "Maxwell Murder". It was so sick being able to see Matt Freeman's bass solo in that song so up close. The band jumped into track 3 of the same record "Roots Radicals", another fan favorite, before bouncing back a year prior and playing track "Side Kick" off of their Let's Go record. I had really thought when Rancid played Radio that Billie Joe from Green Day would've played with them since he helped write the song, (fun fact) but it was great to hear it nonetheless, although strange to hear it in the middle of the set since they usually close with it. Hearing the track Fall Back Down will always transport me back to high school and seeing the band for the first time at Club Zoo in Pittsburgh nearly two decades ago and hearing that Lars Fredericksen is a Pittsburgh Pirates fan gave me an even bigger love for the band when he dedicated the track Time Bomb to "The Cobra" Dave Parker of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Rancid then closed out with Ruby Soho from ...AOCTW, which was awesome watching fans singing along to the chorus "RUBY RUBY RUBY SOHO" with Lars at the end of the set, as always "thanking the fans for their patience their voices and their applause".
After another intermission, The Smashing Pumpkins were up. What another prime choice opener for this tour. One of the bands that single-handedly defined the post-grunge and alternative rock sound of the early 90's era. The Smashing Pumpkins took the stage with their new line-up, featuring original members Billy Corgan fronting the outfit, James Iha on lead guitar, Jimmy Chamberlin on drums with returning members Katie Cole on keyboards and percussion, and Jack Bates on bass guitar with Kiki Wong as the new rhythm/lead player who started out making TikTok videos several years back.
The Smashing Pumpkins kicked off with 2000's The Everlasting Gaze from the Machina/The Machines of God album jumping into the track Doomsday Clock off of 2007's Zeitgeist record as well as the Transformers movie soundtrack. They played Zoo Station, which is a U2 cover never into track Today, a fan favorite, off of their 1992 Siamese Dream album. One of the newest tracks was "That Which Animates the Spirt" off of the band's latest 2023 record ATUM. The rest of the set was chalked full of fan favorites including Tonight Tonight, from the band's Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness album, as well as tracks Jellybelly, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, and 1979 all from that same record. During track Cherub Rock there was an impromptu NWA (National Wrestling Alliance) wrestling match, which makes sense given that Billy Corgan owns the NWA wrestling company, with the band closing out with track Zero, from Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness with an intro of Lenny Kravitz's "Are You Gonna Go My Way" leading into the song. Seeing The Smashing Pumpkins live, was definitely a "cross off" of my "band bucket list", it was such an honor to shoot photos for the band as well.
After a final intermission, Green Day was ready to take the stage. Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen played over the PA System while a nearly 38,000-capacity crowd sang along to every word. The crowd stayed in a roar with the notorious Green Day "drunk bunny" taking the stage during Ramones song Blitzkrieg Bop playing over the PA next and the wasted rabbit hyping up the fans for the headliner. A final compilation of The Imperial March, We Will Rock You and I Love Rock and Roll played as the band emerged on stage to the opening of their latest single The American Dream Is Killing Me from their upcoming Saviors album.
Green Day wasted no time diving into their first-anniversary album Dookie, blasting into the first track of the album Burnout followed by Having a Blast. Green Day played the entire record in order from front to back playing fan-favorite tracks from the record Longview, Welcome to Paradise, Basketcase, She and When I Come Around, (all respectfully), which is so impressive that so many hits came off of that one album alone, it also goes to show how Dookie has held up after all of these years and explains why its been a staple in punk rock history. During the track "Coming Clean" a giant inflatable plane from the album cover flew over the PNC Park Stadium and dropped "Dookie bombs" on the crowd which were little plastic inflatables, fans lucky enough to catch one were able to have an awesome once-in-a-lifetime souvenir. The Dookie set closed with track F.O.D. (Fuck Off And Die) with a snippet of John Mellencamp's Jack & Diane thrown in for fun. Just when you thought the Dookie set was over, Tre Cool emerges from the drums in a Hugh Hefner-style robe with an orchestral backtrack playing the secret Dookie song "All By Myself" to which fans had a huge pop over.
Act 2 of this show aka American Idiot was about to begin but before that Green Day kicked into the intermission song “Do You Know Your Enemy” where they brought up not 1 but 2 fans on stage to sing the interlude of the track. The band then kicked into the title track of the American Idiot record where I was transported back to high school, sporting eyeliner, a The Cure t-shirt and hi-top Converse shoes, which my attire hasn’t changed much in 20 years.
I’ve been waiting for so long to hear some of these tracks live, the last time I heard Green Day play live was actually on the American Idiot tour with My Chemical Romance as the opener. However, even during that tour they didn’t play the entire record from front to back. Songs like Letterbomb, Homecoming and Extrordanary Girl were absent from the set last time in place of hit tracks. It was simply awesome seeing and hearing these songs live, and watching the album from front to back was simply an experience one has to see for themselves.
To cleanse the fans pallet after both of these incredible albums back to back, Green Day busted out two more tracks, Bobby Sox from their recently released Saviors album and of course, closing out the night with Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).
There were so many emotional moments in the night. Hearing Wake Me Up When September Ends and watching the cell phone lights of over 30,000 people on September 1st was simply breathtaking. Hearing Jesus of Suburbia and Homecoming live both 9minute songs from American Idiot and such deep cut tracks like Sassafras Roots and Chump live from the Dookie record, tracks I never thought I’d hear live was overwhelming.
I’ve been a huge Green Day fan for years and watching this show live meant the world to me, it’s so crazy to think that these records have hit the 30 year and 20 year milestones. Time really does fly by when you’re “having the time of your life”.
Green Day is currently on The Saviors Tour with The Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and The Linda Lindas.
Check out photo gallery, tour dates, highlights, and more below!
GALLERY
Saviors Tour North American dates:
July 29 – Washington, DC @ Nationals Park
August 1 – Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre
August 3 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Music and Arts Festival*
August 5 – New York, NY @ Citi Field
August 7 – Boston, MA @ Fenway Park
August 9 – Philadelphia, PA @ Citizens Bank Park
August 10 – Hershey, PA @ Hersheypark Stadium
August 13 – Chicago, IL @ Wrigley Field
August 15 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre !
August 17 – Minneapolis, MN @ Target Field
August 20 – Kansas City, KS @ Azura Amphitheatre !
August 22 – Cincinnati, OH @ Great American Ballpark
August 24 – Milwaukee, WI @ American Family Field
August 26 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion !
August 28 – Atlanta, GA @ Truist Park
August 30 – Nashville, TN @ Geodis Park
Sept. 1 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PNC Park
Sept. 4 – Detroit, MI @ Comerica Park
Sept. 7 – Denver, CO @ Coors Field
Sept. 10 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater !
Sept. 11 – Arlington, TX @ Globe Life Field
Sept. 14 – Los Angeles, CA @ SoFi Stadium
Sept. 18 – Phoenix, AZ @ Chase Field
Sept. 20 – San Francisco, CA @ Oracle Park
Sept. 23 – Seattle, WA @ T-Mobile Park
Sept. 25 – Portland, OR @ Providence Park
Sept. 28 – San Diego, CA @ Petco Park
*Festival Date
!With Support from Rancid and The Linda Lindas only
Saviors UK/EU dates:
May 30 – Monte do Gozo, Spain @ O Son do Camino*
June 1 – Madrid Spain @ Road to Rio Babel*
June 5 – Lyon Decines @ LDLC Arena – with The Interrupters
June 7 – Nurnberg Germany @ Rock im Park*
June 8 – Nurburgring Germany @ Rock am Ring*
June 10 – Berlin Germany @ Waldbühne – with Donots
June 11 – Hamburg Germany @ Trabrennbahn Bahrenfeld – with Donots
June 15 – Interlaken Switzerland @ Greenfield Festival*
June 16 – Milan Italy I Days @ Hippodrome La Maura*
June 18 – Paris France @ Accor Arena – with The Interrupters
June 19 – Arnhem Netherlands @ GelreDome – with The Hives & The Interrupters
June 21 – Manchester UK @ Emirates Old Trafford – with Nothing But Thieves & Maid of Ace
June 23 – Isle of Wight UK @ Isle of Wight Festival*
June 25 – Glasgow UK @ Bellahouston Park – with Nothing But Thieves & Maid of Ace
June 27 – Dublin Ireland @ Marlay Park – with Nothing But Thieves & Maid of Ace
June 29 London UK @ Wembley Stadium – with Nothing But Thieves & Maid of Ace
*Festival Date
You can check out more info in the links below:
GREEN DAY
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