Two musical celebrations took place Saturday evening in downtown San Diego, just a mile apart. They were memorable for both similar and very different reasons.

Green Day began its sold-out performance at Petco Park shortly after the San Diego Symphony completed its sold-out performance at the Jacobs Music Center, where the 114-year-old orchestra made a triumphant return to the 95-year-old concert hall’s four-year renovation.

The first half of Green Day’s Petco Park performance was largely devoted to performing every song from the Bay Area trio’s groundbreaking major label album “Dookie,” which was released in 1994 and sold 20 million copies. By pop punk standards, 30 years is almost a century!

In the second half of the concert, Green Day performed all the songs from his politically charged rock opera “American Idiot,” which sold 15 million copies and was turned into a hit Broadway musical after its release in 2024. Six songs are interspersed from the band’s latest album, Saviors – including “Dilemma”, “1981”, “One Eyed Bastard” and “Bobby Sox” – and effectively serve as a connecting line between the band’s past and present.

The lack of new songs wasn’t due to a creative lull (“Saviors,” which came out in January). But the focus on “American Idiot” and “Dookie” made perfect sense as a one-two punch for a group whose longevity and resonance has far exceeded its members’ wildest expectations.

Unexpected longevity

“We love making music, and you’ve given us the chance to do it for the last 35 years,” Green Day guitarist and lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong told the multi-generational audience. (Make that 37 years; the band will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2027.)

Themes explored in “American Idiot” include existential angst, anger and the search for love of disaffected youth faced with limited options in an increasingly polarized nation. This still-relevant 2004 album also draws some of its fire from highlighting the dumbing down of the media on cable television and the post-9/11 invasion of Iraq by a coalition of Western nations led by then US President George W. Bush.

Released in theaters a decade earlier than American Idiot, Green Day’s Dookie was inspired by the numbing reality of life in a teenage wasteland, with allusions to post-adolescent boredom, sexual identity, masturbation and desperation.

But as dark as some of the lyrics may be, the best songs on both albums are stirring affirmations of the human spirit’s ability to prevail. They’re also a testament to the power of uptempo electric guitar chords, driving drum beats and sultry vocals fueling simple, straightforward songs that uplift, entertain and inform.

Green Day completed all three Saturdays with its marathon, 38-song, two-and-a-half-hour concert, which also served as a powerful reminder of how much its songs were inspired by, and at least partially transcended, the music of Green Day, the Ramones, the Clash, the Replacements and other bands that created a stylistic template upon which Green Day was built. There were also nods to other artists, as evidenced by the concert’s excerpts from Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’,” John Mellencamp’s “Jack & Diane” and Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.”

The Petco Park gig – which was followed by opening sets from Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas – opened with “The American Dream is Killing Me” by Savior. It ended with Armstrong performing a gentle solo acoustic version of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” a wistful 1997 love song by Green Day that briefly showed he was comfortable with cross-picking the guitar knows.

“Good Riddance,” a mass sing-along for the sold-out audience of more than 40,000, gave a concert a poignant touch that, with a few exceptions, made the nostalgia feel fresh and alive.

“Most notably”

“This is something really special to celebrate two (expletive) albums,” Armstrong told the cheering crowd after completing “Letterbomb,” the concert’s 33rd selection.

“It’s not a political party tonight,” he continued. “We are not choosing sides. We are all united. That is unity. It’s not about saying, ‘Fuck it, America.’ What we want is a new America, something that includes us all, with love, compassion and joy.”

Then, in reference to hip-hop mogul P. Diddy’s recent arrest on sex trafficking and related charges, Armstrong added, “This is definitely a party, not a freak-off. “Tonight is a celebration.”

At the start of the evening, he encouraged the audience to vote — and to “kick MAGA’s ass.” Armstrong also praised Che Café, the place where Green Day made its regional debut in 1992. This intimate, all-ages venue at UC San Diego is still in operation and still run by students. There will be a punk rock show on Tuesday with four bands even lesser known than Green Day was 32 years ago during its “Kerplunk!” festival. Tour.

Another possible local connection, although unlikely, is Joey Harris, who over the years has been a key member of such popular San Diego bands as Fingers, The Speedsters, The Beat Farmers, Comanche Moon, The Pleasure Barons, The Tighten-Ups, etc . was more. Armstrong’s vocal phrasing, delivery and slightly nasal tone at times sounded as if he had studied singing with Harris – or at least been an admirer. (If so, good choice!)

Green Day’s Petco Park concert was the final date of his “Saviors” tour in 2024. Armstrong, bassist/vocalist Mike Dirnt (real name: Michael Pritchard) and drummer Tré Cool (real name: Frank Wright) are now all out early 50s. But they had no problem achieving and maintaining the passion and intensity of the band’s two decades-old albums that put them in the spotlight.

Two guitarists and a keyboard player rounded off the sound nicely. By stadium rock standards, the audio quality was clear and balanced. The production – pyrotechnic explosions and bursts of flames, giant LED screens, more pyrotechnics, confetti, more pyrotechnics – enhanced rather than detracted from Green Day’s enduring, well-constructed music.

Standout songs included “Longview,” “Basket Case,” “Jesus of Suburbia,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Bobby Sox,” and “Know Your Enemy,” which featured a brief vocal appearance by a randomly selected audience member named Parker . What she lacked in vocal range and vocal control, she easily made up for in her infectious enthusiasm.

Each song was delivered by Green Day with admirable verve and precision, which could have enhanced his performance but fortunately did not. Aside from Armstrong’s voice breaking once or twice near the end of the show, there was no indication that anyone in the band was tired at the end of their four-month world tour.

Armstrong was a tireless cheerleader, encouraging the crowd to sing along, jump in the air, light up the stadium with his cell phone flashlights and, most importantly, celebrate. But he reacted quickly when, just two songs into the concert, he spotted two people at the front of the stage exchanging blows.

“Calm down, calm down!” said Armstrong. “There is no reason to fight. Everyone is here to have a good time…”

On Saturday, Green Day delivered exactly that.

Originally published: September 29, 2024 at 6:19 p.m