At age 52, Billie Joe Armstrong still carries that youthful rebellious streak we all saw when “Dookie” came out in 1994. His unruly hair, his eyeliner, his occasional eye-bugging are all there. Sure, he’s picked up crow’s feet and a bit of forehead wrinkle but time has been kind to the man fronting Green Day, one of the Mount Rushmore acts of the 1990s modern rock era.
He and his original cohorts drummer Tre Cool and bassist Mike Dirnt gave 40,000-plus fans at Truist Park Wednesday night a funhouse ride through their 30-year discography with the energy of multiple suns. Over two hours and 20 minutes with nary a break, Green Day busted through 37 songs including their breakthrough album “Dookie” and ambitious concept album “American Idiot” a decade later in their entirety.
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
The impressive timelessness of Green Day’s appeal was reflected in the audience, which covered three generations: the Gen Xers who grew up with “Dookie,” the millennials who picked up on their “American Idiot” phase and Gen Zers who found their populist and often sadly prescient lyrics appealing.
And the four-act lineup also bridged generations, from the up-and-coming teen punk band the Linda Lindas to alt rock peers Rancid and Smashing Pumpkins. (Billy Corgan’s band, wearing a Nehru-style black get up that seemed more apropos for a winter concert than an August night in Atlanta with the temperatures above 90, gave the crowd a raucous, industrial-heavy journey through their big hits, a few obscure tunes and an out-of-nowhere cover of U2′s “Zoo Station.”)
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
For Green Day, there was no sloppiness, no punk-like tantrums, no curse-filled soliloquies about societal ills. Time and middle age has smoothed away the rebellious streak but none of the fervor for performance. There was barely a loss of momentum from the second they hit the stage at 8:30 p.m. with their new song “The American Dream is Killing Me” to their final song at 10:50 p.m., the 1997 monster breakup hit that everyone thinks is called “Time of Your Life” but is appropriately dubbed “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”
This is Green Day’s fourth time performing in Atlanta in the past seven years and second visit to Truist Park in three years. And for several years, they have opened the concert with the same prerecorded preamble each time: Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” in full and the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” with a dude called Punk Bunny dressed in a bunny suit running around the stage hyping the crowd.
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Green Day is in many ways inspired and informed by both Queen and the Ramones. Armstrong embodies Freddie Mercury’s magnetic stage presence and theatricality, aping Mercury’s emphatic “Ay yo!” call backs multiple times during the night. And Green Day’s simple, catchy chords and high speed punk attitude emote the best of the Ramones at their peak.
And given this is a stadium show, the band gave those in the upper rafters massive screens with a top-notch video team providing quick cut close-ups of all three key band members, choreographed with the precision of a Broadway musical. The band also mined the concert tech store (if there is such a thing) for streamers, fireworks and a goofy “Bad Year” blimp.
Over the course of the night, the band largely let the music do the talking. There were no background explainers about any of the songs, old or new, no personal tales from their storied history. (That’s what reading Rolling Stone is for.)
The band did change “I’m not part of a redneck agenda” in “American Idiot” to “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda.” This is not new. They did it during “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest” eight months ago. And during “Holiday,” Armstrong yelped, “Destroy Mar-a-Lago!”
But Armstrong mostly kept his exhortations light ― along the lines of “Let me hear you scream!” and “Raise your hands up!”
He also comically relied on that old concert standby: shout out the city and/or state you’re in. He did it. A lot. Georgia and Atlanta were referenced at least a dozen times. And since Green Day is skipping cities like Birmingham, Alabama, and the three biggest markets in Florida — Tampa, Orlando and Miami — this go around, he also gave much love to the band’s Alabama and Florida fans who drove or flew in.
Armstrong’s only speech on stage focused on joy, evoking the beginning of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy.”
“We are gathered together to witness this thing called love and happiness,” he said. “Don’t doom scroll. Right now we’re all together. Tonight we’re with our family and friends. Tonight, we have unity. Tonight isn’t a political party. … Tonight is a celebration!”
Another joyful highlight: he brought a random woman in a crop top and multicolored hair on stage named Eternity to help him sing part of “Know Your Enemy.” She acted both gobsmacked and entirely into the moment as she belted out the lyrics with gusto and jumped around like she owned the joint.
Was she a plant? Maybe. But Armstrong looked genuinely amazed by her enthusiasm and gave her a dream chance to leap off an elevated part of the stage just as Cool hit the final drum beat like a female Pete Townsend.
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
Credit: Robb Cohen for the Atlanta Journ
