Article by: Val Tapia
Photos by Megan Juarez-Fontana
Promoter: Live Nation
Venue: Chase Field
Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Tour: Saviors
I’ll begin my recap by saying that fans of Green Day really lucked out on Wed. Sept. 18 with picture-perfect weather for the band’s stop on its Saviors 2024 summer tour at Chase Field.
Frankly, it’s not very often we see a high of 93 degrees in Phoenix in mid-September. The only thing that was missing was an open roof for this marathon show, which lasted over five hours with three exceptional opening acts. More on that later.
To be clear, this was a full scale headline tour by the veteran alternative rock trio. When I say “full scale”, it isn’t trivial. It seems that there have been more co-headline tours this year than I can remember.
For those who are unaware, co-headline tours usually feature two “headliners” that perform condensed sets (generally 75, 80-minutes long) and rotate the closing slot nightly.
By and large, they’re usually bands that have similar amounts of record sales and/or draw similar ticket sales. There’s definitely a place for these tours in the marketplace without question.
But it really is something special to see a live concert in a stadium. Particularly when the band you’re seeing performs a whopping 37-song set spanning 150-minutes.
In short order, that’s what a real headline tour is, in this writer’s humble (?) opinion. Every touring artist with a sizable catalog of music (let’s say, six or more studio albums) should be obligated to perform a 20-song set or a 2-hour set— minimum.
Anything– and I mean anything– less than that minimal threshold for a live show in 2024 is absolutely unacceptable…from every conceivable angle. Period.
By the way, that goes for club, theatre, arena, and stadium acts— in case you were wondering.
Now, on to Green Day. First, I have to be truthful here. To this day, I’ve never bought a Green Day album in my life. However, there are things about them that I respect immensely.
First, it’s great to see they’ve retained the definitive lineup of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool for over three decades. That in itself is a major accomplishment— at least nowadays.
It’s also impressive to see when the members of a band actually like each other! The onstage musical chemistry between the three has seemingly never wavered either.
Most importantly, the band’s commitment to its art is the most impressive aspect of Green Day. They continue to grow as musicians, which is clearly evident on its latest album, Saviors.
On that point, the band kicked the show off with a new song, “The American Dream Is Killing Me”. To their credit, Green Day has never shied away from social commentary in their songs. In fact, it ranges from satirical to scathing at times.
Immediately after, the band takes the multi-generational audience back to 1994 by performing its major-label debut album Dookie in its entirety. From Burnout to Chump to Longview to Welcome To Paradise (the latter originally released on 1991’s Kerplunk!), the roughly 30,000 strong crowd was on its feet the entire time.
Not that it matters, but if I had to pick a “favorite” Green Day song, it would indeed have to be …”Paradise”. To my ears, after this song I realized that Green Day owe a major debt to the Ramones. Yes, I’m stating the obvious, but who cares?
Influence is influence— I’m confident that all four original members of the seminal New York quartet (who have all sadly passed on) were grinning from ear-to-ear at the band during the entire tour.
I suppose the “coolest” thing about Green Day is that they have no problem with combining its punk influence with arena rock bombast. On the surface, it might seem contradictory. However, in practice it really works perfectly.
But make no mistake. Despite the Dookie and American Idiot album cover inflatables and plenty of pyrotechnic fun to match, the music never takes a back seat to the visuals. They enhance the music, without detracting from it.
I was also impressed with how tight the rhythm section of this band is. Both Dirnt and Cool really are exceptional musicians, which allows Armstrong to be a true “ringleader”, if you will.
By the way, the band also includes touring guitarists Jason White and Kevin Preston, as well as Jason Freese on keyboards.
Back onstage, songs like “Basket Case” and “When I Come Around” still get a rise out of fans, particularly with some of the twenty-somethings around me who weren’t even born when Dookie was originally released. If that’s not the ultimate compliment to Green Day’s staying power, I don’t know what is.
In recent reviews of the Saviors tour, the word “nostalgia” creeps in repeatedly. Personally, I don’t like that word when it comes to music. It conjures up thoughts of merely going through the motions, in my mind anyway.
Fairly or unfairly, that descriptor applies more to veteran bands that are relegated to playing the club or casino circuit without new music to promote. They choose to ca$h in on past glories and a band’s name, sometimes with only one or even no original (or definitive) members present.
I won’t mince words: that approach is absolutely disgraceful. But that’s another topic for another day.
Midway through the set, the band add a few more new tracks from Saviors, notably “Look Ma, No Brains”, “One Eyed Bastard”, and “Dilemma”.
Only one song from 1995’s Insomniac made the set, that being “Brain Stew”. Same with 2000’s “Warning”, with “Minority” as the sole track played.
After “Brain Stew”, Armstrong took the mic and said… “Welcome to the 20th anniversary of American Idiot.”
With that, they proceeded to play the second (full) album of the night, from front to back as promised. The title track speaks for itself, as well as other hits like “Holiday” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.
“Give Me Novacaine”, “She’s a Rebel”, and “Whatsername” have stood the test of time as well. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of fans went home more than satisfied with the show.
By encore time, one more new song was played called “Bobby Sox”. Finally (and predictably), it was time for Green Day to say “Good Riddance” (from 1997’s Nimrod) to Phoenix, with the fitting lyric… “hope you had the… ‘Time Of Your Life'”.
With that, it was a job well done by a band that deserves to play stadiums. Thank you Green Day for caring and giving 120% to your audience onstage.
Green Day
It should be said that the three opening acts on the bill also made solid contributions to the tour as well. The first band to hit the stage (right at 5:30 p.m.) was a band called The Linda Lindas.
They managed to get in a quick 20-minute, 7 song set with songs like opener “Too Many Things”, “No Obligation” and the final song called “Racist, Sexist Boy”. Hopefully they’ve gained a few new fans from the tour.
The Linda Lindas
Next up was Berkeley’s Rancid, who went over surprisingly well with the crowd. The 30-minute, 11-song set kicked off with “Maxwell Murder” from 1995’s …And Out Come The Wolves. No less than seven songs were played from the album.
Only the title track from their 2023 album was played, “Tomorrow Never
Comes”. Funny thing is, when singer Tim Armstrong took the stage, he looked a hell of a lot like country star Zac Brown! But I digress.
Rancid
The Smashing Pumpkins took the stage promptly at 6:55 and tore through a 14-song, hour-long set. I’ve only seen them one time in Oct. 1998. Frankly, I was disappointed.
This time though, they played a pretty solid set. Songs like “1979”, “Disarm”, and “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” were 90s rock radio staples, and still get airplay on active rock radio to this day. No surprise that all three were part of the set.
They also included a cover of U2’s Zoo Station, which honestly took me about three minutes to recognize. Then again, I can’t say it’s one of my “favorite” U2 songs either.
“Tonight, Tonight” is a Pumpkins classic. However, it didn’t go over very
well live to my ears. I prefer the studio version.
Smashing Pumpkins
To conclude, I have to say by far Green Day’s Saviors tour was the tour of the summer. It was a well-oiled rock and roll machine, and a definite contender for the #1 tour of 2024 as well.
My final verdict? Five stars. A job well done.
