On August 15, Green Day played a sold-out show as part of their Saviors Tour in St. Louis, Missouri, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of American Idiot and the 30th anniversary of Dookie. Even though severe storms were anticipated throughout the day, it was much preferable to a hot, sweaty, and muggy night than any delays or cancellations. However, the storms kindly abated so that we could all rock out to both of those albums in their entirety!
As the headliners performed “The American Dream is Killing Me” from their most recent album Saviors against a backdrop of brightly flashing lights, the audience erupted in applause. As fireworks went off with a BANG and flames shot out of the back wall at regular intervals throughout the concert, everyone was in for a night filled with pyrotechnics!
Naturally, in honor of the releases of Dookie and American Idiot’s anniversaries, we were primarily given the opportunity to listen to both albums in their entirety as well as a few additional songs. After the album’s opening song, Green Day immediately moved into Dookie, and the album naturally contains hit after hit. Lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong searched the audience for a fan to join him on stage during “Know Your Enemy.” He helped a young girl get up to the microphone, and after she sang a few lines to loud applause, he told her, “You gotta do a stage dive!” The girl refused because she appeared anxious, but she jumped and sang again as fireworks went off behind her. Armstrong addressed her refusal to stage dive later. He told us all, “I fuckin’ respect you for that,” and he reminded us that we should and can say no to things.
As we entered the American Idiot portion of the evening, a giant inflatable hand with a heart grenade rose from the middle of the stage and lightning flashed in the sky behind the stage.
With lyric changes like “St. Louis to the Middle East” in “Jesus of Suburbia” and “The representative from St. Louis has the floor” in “Holiday,” Armstrong did an excellent job of making St. Louis feel special. In addition, he inquired whether any Cardinals fans were present, which, of course, they were, and then bitterly informed us that he is “not bitter” that he no longer has a baseball team, referring to the upcoming move of the Oakland A’s.
With Armstrong urging people to vote this year and another lyric change to “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda” in “American Idiot,” we were all reminded that punk rock has always been and still is political.
It was a fun to see people of all ages at the show – parents and longtime fans brought their children dressed in Greed Day merchandise, demonstrating to all of us that the love for punk rock and Green Day will continue. It was a nonstop, high-energy night filled with incredible songs and even more incredible performances.
