Concert review: Green Day rocked Pittsburgh stadium as September began

PITTSBURGH ― Green Day celebrated a few anniversaries Sunday with about 40,000 Pittsburgh fans at PNC Park.

Though the night didn't feel too overly steeped in nostalgia.

That's because Green Day's "Dookie" album, now 30 years old, and the band's "American Idiot" album, now 20 years old, sounded as relevant and freshly written as today.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famers' 37-song, two-hour-30-minute performance began as Green Day shows do ? with someone in a pink bunny costume, in this case wearing a Barry Bonds Pittsburgh Pirates jersey, prancing around the stage to The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop," which had followed a jubilant audience karaoke to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Known for years as "Drunk Bunny," the furry creature's new Punk Bunny alter ego recently launched a high-octane line of coffees, I'd strongly recommend.

Green Day hit the stage swinging for the fences, as plumes of fire enriched "The American Dream is Killing Me," from this past January's "Saviors" release. Audience members heeded singer Billie Joe Armstrong's request to jump up and down.

Playing its brand of punk/alt-rock that's more bouncy than blitzkrieg, Green Day got down to the appointed business of romping through "Dookie," the band's celebrated 1994 major label debut.

Armstrong, 52, wore a Pirates ballcap yellower than his dyed hair for "Having a Blast."

Standing at the far end of the stage's surprisingly small catwalk, bassist Mike Dirnt savored the well-deserved honor of playing the iconic thumping solo that launches "Longview." Around that point, Armstrong suggested fans put aside their phones and bask in the moment. Dirnt's fleet bass strokes and Tres Cool's high-speed drumming powered a wonderful "Welcome to Paradise."

Armstrong's vocals, nasally but endearingly effective in a punk-ish way, maintained a crispness delivering key lines like the "sometimes I give myself the... creeps" in "Basket Case."

An inflatable airplane, representing the cover of the "Dookie" album, flew above the floor crowd, dropping gifts during "Coming Clean."

Before "F.O.D.," Armstrong sang a verse of John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane," careful to unleash a high note at the very end. Five songs later, he sang a bit of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin'." The mixed ages audience ate it up in both cases.

Tour band members Jason White and Kevin Preston, on guitars, and Jason Freese on keys, rounded out the sound. White's guitar textures fortified "When I Come Around."

Armstrong played guitar too as he ran around the stage, periodically doing leaps and mid-air splits off a riser. He always leaped to the left, perhaps symbolically.

Being an old-school punk-rocker, he made a few pleas to the audience to make sure they vote in November.

During the title track performance of "American Idiot," Armstrong tweaked a line to sing "I'm not part of the MAGA agenda," which earned a long, loud cheer.

He later said left wing, right wing EVERYBODY needs to get their act together, and strive for inclusivity and joy.

Done with the "Dookie" set, Green Day charged ahead with songs like 2024 radio single "Dilemma," which rode a great, crunchy groove, and the delectably bouncy and defiant "Minority."

"Brain Stew" from 1995's "Insomniac," didn't sound as fierce and head-thrashing as usual, though it segued seamlessly into the "American Idiot" title track and the rest of the "American Idiot" album, including the nine-minute rock opera "Jesus of Suburbia."

Spectators lit up the night with cellphone flashlights for "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Armstrong's lyrics about dissatisfied, lower-to-middle class youth rang out with relevance.

Name dropping Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh and on several occasions Ohio, Armstrong's stage charisma captivated fans who shouted along to "Are We The Waiting" as streamers cascaded down on the crowd.

More than two hours in, Armstrong's voice sounded as solid as ever, bringing the requisite feels to the ballad "Wake Me Up When September Ends."

Overall, the performance seemed a tad tamer than Green Day's 2021 PNC Park concert, or prior performances at the Petersen Events Center (2017) and the then-Consol Energy Center (2013).

The bit where Armstrong brought a few youthful fans on stage, to sing "Know Your Enemy," ended with those fans being escorted backstage. In years past, Armstrong insisted they exit with a stage dive.

But still a fun show soaked in hit songs played with enthusiasm for an ardent audience.

Smashing Pumpkins did its part as the main support act, ripping through its hits with entertaining ferocity and swagger. Frontman Billy Corgan flashed several smiles and at one point cajoled the crowd to shout louder, teasingly adding a "meh" shrug at their effort.

Hard-grinding guitarist James Iha did most of the crowd greetings between treats like "Today," "Tonight, Tonight," "Disarm," an almost metallic "Bullet With Butterfly Wings" and "1979."

The Pumpkins teased Lenny Kravitz' "Are You Gonna Go My Way" before "Zero."

A professional wrestler brought body-slamming action on stage to precede "Cherub," which Corgan dedicated to 1979 Pirates world champions relief pitcher Kent Tekulve, playing off a comment that came earlier from fellow warmup act Rancid.

Tim Armstrong, singer of Rancid, merrily recalled an experience from his childhood seeing the Pirates play and being close enough to the field to hear Tekulve string together a mind-blowing string of swear words.

Maybe that helped put Armstrong on his punk rock path.

Rancid handled its role effectively, too, Sunday with a fast-paced set of pure punk ending strongly with 1990s alt-rock radio hits "Time Bomb" and "Ruby Soho," for which the crowd zestfully sang along.

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This article originally appeared on Beaver County Times: Green Day rocked Pittsburgh stadium as September began