The Saviors Tour brought The Linda Lindas, Rancid, The Smashing Pumpkins and Green Day to Chase Field in Phoenix on Sept. 18, and SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sept. 14. The tour, meant to highlight the 30th anniversary of Green Day’s album “Dookie” and the 20th anniversary of its album “American Idiot” also provided the four bands with an opportunity to encourage attendees to vote, as well as share their music with the arenas. The enormous stage provided a just backdrop for the bands to explode. Blaze Radio’s Bella Mazzilli was at the Phoenix show, with Brooklyn Cohen attending the night in Los Angeles.
To start the show, The Linda Lindas brought its massive wall of sound and began its performance with “Too Many Things,” which established the mood of the set for the audience; chaos. There were also bubble machines pointed from the edge of the stage at the band, but the band quickly became irritated with the machines. Eloise Wong remarked that she had never eaten so much “bubble juice” in her life before.
Before their song “Racist Sexist Boy,” Wong screamed at the audience, encouraging them to register to vote. She spoke of a racist, sexist boy who had previously been in office, and how she hoped the audience would register to vote through the voting booths the tour included on-location, to prevent the ‘boy’ in question from returning to office. Wong was met with small applause for this statement.
Rancid performed after The Linda Lindas. The juxtaposition between The Linda Lindas and Rancid was fascinating, as Rancid brought a similar level of energy, but not the same energy. Rancid was more sinister than The Linda Lindas, but less youthful. Unfortunately, Rancid fell slightly flat in direct comparison with The Linda Lindas, although audience participation was much higher during Rancid’s set.
An important interjection from Brooklyn: When I saw Rancid, it was really cool because they are a band that my dad really likes. I’m not a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan, so I really enjoyed Rancid. All right, back to Bella’s experience!
When it came time for Billy Corgan’s Smashing Pumpkins to enter the stage, all the lights flickered and subsequently went out. Electronic music began to leak from the speakers, as lights flashed on the stage. Audience members began to scream from sheer anticipation. It was clear the show had officially begun.
When the band walked out, the screams intensified. Kicking it off with “The Everlasting Gaze,” the band immediately brought an eclectic aura to the venue with technicolor lights. The guitars squealed along with Corgan. The lights pulsed in time to the music. Overall, it is an incredible set to represent the band’s legendary status.
At SoFi Stadium, the crowd went wild when the opening notes of “Bohemian Rhapsody” came out of the speakers. The conclusion of the Queen hit led to the song “Blitzkrieg Bop,” a song by The Ramones, as the Green Day bunny mascot came out on stage, dressed in a Rams “Bunny” jersey, and interacted with the audience.
The band then took the stage, playing one song off their newest album, “Saviors,” before launching straight into their 1994 album “Dookie,” playing all 15 songs in a row. That part of the set was complete with a blow-up of the “Dookie” plane featured on the album cover, dropping inflatable missile-shaped "dookies" during the song “Emenius Sleepus.”
After completing the album, they played a collection of their hits. First came “Know Your Enemy,” off their 2009 album “21st Century Breakdown,” and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong invited a fan named Lexy onstage to sing the song with the band.
Green Day played two songs from “Saviors,” then “Dilemma,” “Minority” and “Brain Stew.” (At the beginning of “Brain Stew,” Armstrong began playing snippets of “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath and “Master of Puppets” by Metallica, much to the audience’s delight.)
Then, the lights in the stadium went dark. When the first few bars of “American Idiot” were played, the arena went wild as 100,000 fans prepared to sing the iconic lyrics.
Midway through the song, in the line that says, “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda,” Armstrong switched it up, whipping the crowd into a frenzy with the new line, “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda!” The 2004 album, which was created in protest to President George W. Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq, still holds up, with fans passionately singing the lyrics to every song.
After the hit-filled “American Idiot,” Green Day left the stage briefly before returning for another song from “Saviors,” “Bobby Sox.”
Finally, they wrapped up the show with their 1997 hit “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” With the crowd singing along, Armstrong, Tré Cool, and Mike Dirnt looked every bit like seasoned veterans still having the time of their lives (pun definitely intended) performing their songs for fans.