Green Day live in Washington, DC review: North American Saviors tour kicks off

Two hours into their set on Monday night – and five hours after the first opening act had taken the stage - Green Day launched into a ferocious version of “Letterbomb” from their epochal American Idiot album. In the middle of the song, ageless frontman Billie Joe Armstrong urged the crowd, as he had done all night, to leap to their feet, throw their arms in the air, and join in the song. “This isn’t a party,” Armstrong shouted. “It’s a CELEBRATION!”

He needn’t have bothered with the instructions. The sell-out crowd in Washington, DC’s Nationals Park had been on their feet, dancing and singing along from the moment the California punk (don’t call them pop punk) legends hit the stage.

This was the first night of the North American leg of the Saviors Tour, in support of the band’s 14th album. In a way, fans in Washington were treated to a perfect storm. After playing seventeen shows all over Europe in June, Green Day has had a month off to rest up for the nationwide trek across North America that will take them from DC to San Diego over the next two months.

Green Day kicks off North American tour in can't-miss show

Armstrong has rarely sounded better. Bandmates Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool seemed indefatigable. And yet, with those European dates under their belt, there was none of the sloppiness that sometimes afflicts shows at the beginning of a long tour.

The band played five songs from the Saviors album. After a recorded intro that featured “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Blitzkrieg Bop,” (with a bunny in a Nationals jersey running amok and doing the Worm on stage), and an instrumental medley that ended with the “Imperial March” from Star Wars, Armstrong and company launched into “The American Dream is Killing Me,” the lead track from Saviors.

In the middle of the show, they would play a trio of new songs – “Look Ma, No Brains!,” “One Eyed Bastard,” and “Dilemma,” – and then play “Bobby Sox” at the end of the show. Just before that, Armstrong insisted he needed help from a fan in singing “Know Your Enemy” from 21st Century Breakdown.  A young man from the audience by the name of Johnson eagerly climbed on stage and took the mic, offering a letter-perfect verse, complete with a well-timed leap from a stage platform.

Armstrong made Johnson promise he knew the words to the song before inviting him onstage. He needn’t have bothered. It seemed as if almost everyone in the crowd knew every word to every song, even the newer ones.

And then there were the old songs. Green Day is calling this the Saviors Tour, but this is as much of a celebration of thirty years at the forefront of American punk music as you will ever find. And to that end, they played not just one – but two iconic albums in their entirety. After “The American Dream is Killing Me,” Armstrong reminded the crowd that this is the 30th anniversary of Dookie, the trio’s third album that launched them into the stratosphere back in 1994.

“Burnout” featured the first of many Tre Cool machine gun drum solos. Armstrong had the audience sing the “Longview” line “When masturbation’s lost its fun, you’re f*****g lazy.” They happily obliged. A raucous “Welcome to Paradise,” came next, followed by fan favorite “Basket Case,” which may have featured the most enthusiastic crowd singing of the night. Armstrong brought out his first guitar to play “F.O.D.” before finishing off Dookie with “All By Myself.”

After a brief interlude that featured other older favorites “Minority” and “Brain Stew,” they began playing “American Idiot,” the song. They had already been at it for close to an hour and half. With little fanfare, they proceeded to play the entire American Idiot album, celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024.

Though clearly a political album, Armstrong kept the political speech to a bare minimum, allowing his songs to work their magic. There may have been a random mask of one particular political candidate showing up during the “I Don’t Care” section of “Jesus of Suburbia,” and a call to support democracy and oppose fascism during “Holiday,” but that was as overt political speech went on Monday.

Armstrong broke out an acoustic guitar for “Give Me Novacaine," and closed the evening with a lovely solo acoustic version of “Good Riddance.” After singing the song by himself, he was joined for the final lines by Dirnt and Cool, who wrapped their arms around each other as the drummer strummed the final chords on Armstrong guitar. It was a sweet, triumphant way to end.

Green Day is being supported on the North American leg of the tour by three bands. Up and coming California rockers, the Linda Lindas, sprinted onto the stage and blistered through a seven-song, 20-minute set, ending with Eloise Wong’s shrieking, growling “Racist Sexist Boy.” Later, Billy Corgan led The Smashing Pumpkins through a tight 11-song set that featured many of their hits like “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and “1979.”

The only thing that marred the celebratory evening was the weather, which cut short Rancid’s set after just two songs. The small taste – “Maxwell Murder” from 1995’s …and Out Come the Wolves and the title track from last year’s Tomorrow Never Comes – suggest that it will be well worth arriving early to hear the Linda Lindas and Rancid open the rest of the shows over the next two months.

Just make sure you know the words to Know Your Enemy. You may be asked to sing.

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