Green Day plays a hometown show
was more a shouter than a vocalist, but knew the lyrics and brought the right attitude.
Of course, there were plenty of other hits in the 30-song set, from “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “When I Come Around” to “She” and “American Idiot.” Armstrong noted how many tracks were about the Bay Area, including “Stuart and the Ave.,” which he said refers to the Berkeley intersection, and “Welcome to Paradise,” which is about Oakland.
The rockers also gave a few nods to classics, including a few lines of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Have You Ever Seen the Rain?” as well as performing “Satisfaction” and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude,” possibly a homage to the recent twoweekend Desert Trip festival in Indio (Riverside County) featuring the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney.
The show lasted over two hours, and it looked as if a few in the crowd would be sleepy in homeroom on Friday and many more would be telecommuting to work. Parents brought their children, equipped with colorful oversize ear-protecting headphones. Gen X and Boomer fans who grew up with Green Day during the first Bush administration eagerly sang along with lead vocalist and guitarist Armstrong’s call-and-responses.
For the band’s second encore, Armstrong returned to the stage alone with an acoustic guitar. What sounded at first like it might be a version of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” in honor of 2016 Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan was actually an acoustic version of “Ordinary Day,” which ends “Revolution Radio.” Then “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” finally closed out the night, with bass guitarist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool joining their bandmate center stage.