REVIEW: Green Day’s Climate Benefit Concert Was a Once In a Lifetime Experience
“GREEN DAY IS PLAYING AT THE FILLMORE” — is a rare sentence nowadays. The last time somebody said that was probably in 1997, which was the last time the band performed at San Francisco’s music venue to promote Nimrod. Today, Green Day is used to playing arenas, ones that are usually sold out.
Last night’s show was one of the Right Here, Right Now Mini Global Climate Concerts, an initiative hosted by UN Human Rights and the Recording Academy. Every impossible-to-get ticket sold benefits UN Human Rights climate justice efforts and a portion goes to the Recording Academy’s MusiCares, a “musicians affected by climate change” non-profit.
Besides the CEOs and Vice Presidents from the organizations introducing bands and segueing through the night, the Green Day show felt surprisingly normal. Even for a sold-out show – superfans stood outside, desperate with signs for extra tickets – there was plenty of room to move around. Everyone was pleasant and polite. It was any regular concert-goer’s average Tuesday show, except that the circumstances were once in a lifetime.
Just the night before, Green Day accepted the Landmark Award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards, something given to artists who have “inspired and shaped culture” for decades. Now, just months away from embarking on a country-wide arena tour, the band returned to their stomping grounds for fans to experience Green Day as they should (and how I dream everyone could): close enough to see their faces, present enough to feel the floor shake.
When Green Day played The Fillmore in December 1997, lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong drop kicked a male member of the audience for harassing a young girl. The crowd erupted while Armstrong’s bandmates fished him out, Armstrong not hesitating to call the offender “a little bitch.”
A lot’s changed since ‘97. For one, Green Day’s crowd are no longer confined to young punks. After breaking into the mainstream with 2004’s American Idiot, their fans stem from Top-40 enjoyers to chronically-online kids to middle aged couples with their children. One woman modestly asked me, “Is this the mosh pit area?” When I replied with a yes, she gave me a nervous smile and resigned, “I don’t think I want to be in that.”
If there’s one thing that has stayed constant all these decades, it’s Green Day. Their new album, Saviors, received mixed reviews for being a little too radio-friendly for a band that’s supposed to be punk. When they played it in its entirety last night, that editorial critique could be seen in the stillness of a lot of the audience. However, you can tell the band loves these songs, and a good portion of the crowd was still down to dance to “The American Dream is Killing Me” and “Bobby Sox.”
The last track of Saviors, “Fancy Sauce,” might have been the full circle moment of it all. Armstrong sings, “Everybody’s famous / stupid and contagious / as we all die young someday / we all die young and watch it slip away.” While Saviors is no Dookie (what new album will ever compare to the ones in which we came of age?), Green Day’s performance, hell, even willingness to play The Fillmore compared to the Chase Center, especially for a good cause, is a testament to their moral compass that’s guided them their whole lives.
In mid March, the band played an show at the House of Blues in Anaheim, a venue half the size as The Fillmore, just because they wanted to. When they recorded Saviors in Europe, they played clubs and acoustic shows for the hell of it. One can’t help but think about their start at Gilman Street, a DIY punk club that still exists in Berkeley today, and how the band never refuses to return to where they started.
The band followed Saviors with a full performance of American Idiot, knowingly paying fan service to one of their most popular albums. There was not a lyric left unsung, from the lightning opener “American Idiot” to deep cuts like “Extraordinary Girl.” Armstrong makes performing look as fun and easy as it did 20 years ago. His spiked blond hair and Cramps shirt make it feel like nothing has changed. Indeed, things have, but Green Day assure you that it’s not as scary as you think.
