Live Review and Gallery: Green Day with Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and The Linda Lindas• Wrigley Field • Chicago

Brassneck | August 14, 2024

Green Day and friends

Wrigley Field

Chicago, IL

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Review by Jeff Elbel. Photos coming soon by Curt Baran.

Rock fans in Chicago have had a busy summer, with Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, and stands by the Rolling Stones and Metallica as a few recent examples. Tuesday’s concert at Wrigley Field stands among the season’s best. It was a perfect cloudless evening for an outdoor show at the ballpark. Fans of ‘90s rock packed the Friendly Confines for an evening of adrenalized punk and alternative rock by Green Day, the Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and the Linda Lindas.

Green Day arrived with milestones to celebrate and found a crowd ready to participate. The Bay Area trio was given additional firepower by a keyboardist and a pair of guitarists, including longtime touring bandmate Jason White, giving frontman Billie Joe Armstrong the freedom to sing and play guitar or interact with the audience. The set began with the galloping swing of “The American Dream is Killing Me” from the new album Saviors, including audible callbacks to the indelible 1994 single “Basket Case.” Afterward, inflatable props created a three-dimensional backdrop of the cartoon cover for the band’s 1994 breakthrough album Dookie as Green Day began a track-by-track performance to honor the album’s 30^th anniversary. Fans sang along with the slacker ennui of “Longview” featuring Mike Dirnt’s swaggering bass line, bounced to the mid-tempo power pop of “When I Come Around,” and followed Armstrong’s command to “go crazy” during the hard-charging “Welcome to Paradise.” Armstrong encouraged fans to abandon their cell phones and engage in the moment during “She.” The titanic power-pop of “Sassafras Roots” was another of the Dookie’s nods to disaffected suburban youth. Hyperactive drummer Tré Cool left his riser for a cheeky solo performance of “All by Myself,” accompanied by synthesized orchestration.

Armstrong was ready with gags and engaging banter. “I just realized something,” he said midway through Dookie. “Tonight, we played with Smashing Pumpkins from Chicago. The last time we were here, we played with Fall Out Boy from Chicago. The next time we’re here, we’re going to play with the band … Chicago.”

Armstrong solicited help from the crowd for “Know Your Enemy” from 21^st Century Breakdown. “Do you know the words? Do you swear to God?” he shouted into the pit before calling a fan to the stage. A woman named Bridget joined Armstrong, singing with accuracy and gusto before making a final triumphant leap from Armstrong’s riser. Saviors track “Look Ma, No Brains” was a sharp blast of self-deprecation. “I’m with stupid, and I’m all by myself,” quipped Armstrong in the lyrics. “One Eyed Bastard” was a swaggering ball of mob-styled bravado that gleefully took the low road, exulting in long-sought revenge. Armstrong quoted Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” as the band began “Dilemma” and sang a line of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” during the revved-up Irish folk of “Minority.”

Following a tense and choppy performance of the insomniac theme “Brain Stew,” the stage converted to an epic representation of the stark cover artwork for the 2004 album American Idiot. Cool’s thundering tom-toms drove the title track, supporting Armstrong’s critique of manipulative mass media and cable infotainment propaganda. One key lyric was changed to declare “I’m not part of a MAGA agenda.” The album’s concept unfolded with characters represented by songs including anti-hero “Jesus of Suburbia” (recalling Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream”), punk rock icon “St. Jimmy,” and revolutionary “Whatshername.” The politically charged “Holiday” became a rallying cry. “Do we fight against fascism,” asked Armstrong, receiving cheers in response. “Are we ready to vote?”

During the ballad “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” Armstrong was overcome by the evening and his surroundings. “Wrigley Field, look at you,” he said. “This is how you take care of your shit,” he added, calling the park a “sacred ballfield.” “Someone call the owner of the Oakland A’s,” he added. Armstrong requested fans’ cell phone lights, creating a starlit galaxy within Wrigley Field. “Are We the Waiting” with Cool’s measured drumming and the sentimental “Wake Me When September Ends” were emotional highlights from the American Idiot set. Armstrong encouraged fans to think about their loved ones, present or lost, and to celebrate the beauty of those connections. “Tonight, this is about joy,” he said. “For God’s sake, we have fucking earned it.”

“We don’t do encores because they’re egotistical and stupid,” teased Armstrong after the band closed with its song of gender-neutral romance “Bobby Sox.” He soon returned with an acoustic guitar for a solo performance of the farewell song “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” Thousands of fans sang along, arm in arm, as Dirnt and Cool joined Armstrong to do the same. Cool strummed the final chord on Armstrong’s guitar as Green Day bid fans farewell. “I’m gonna remember this for the rest of my life,” said Armstrong. “I’m gonna buy souvenirs. I’m gonna get a bobblehead of each and every one of you.”

Billy Corgan led his Smashing Pumpkins bandmates, including guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamberlain, through a set of grinding alternative rock. The band appeared in gothic black, with Corgan as Nosferatu in a long black robe with red buttons. Gems included the slashing “Bullet with Butterfly Wings” with Chamberlain’s thundering beat and the sun-kissed shimmer and adolescent nostalgia of “1979.” The band covered U2’s “Zoo Station,” recast as brutal, chugging heavy metal. Corgan and Iha faced off with their guitars in front of Chamberlain’s drum riser during “Tonight, Tonight,” and Corgan earned a massive hometown cheer when singing the song’s lyrics about “your city by the lake, the place that you were born.” During the grim electropop of “Ava Adore,” Corgan prowled the catwalk while the crowd joined in singing, “we must never be apart.” Iha played squealing, steel-bending solos during “Doomsday Clock.” “We’re Smashing Pumpkins and we’re glad to be here in our goddamned hometown,” said the guitarist. Corgan took his turn during “Cherub Rock,” coaxing cacophony from a pink guitar festooned with mirrored bat emblems. “Before we go, we’d like to thank you for 35-36 years of our band,” said Corgan. “We used to practice across the street at the Cubby Bear. God bless you guys. God bless the Cubs!” During its 60-minute set, the band did not introduce any songs from its new album, Aghori Mhori Mei.

Rancid’s rough-hewn rock reflected foundational punk influences, including the Clash. On fare including the skanking ska-punk of “Time Bomb,” the importance of The Specials was also evident. Favorites from 1995’s … And Out Come the Wolves included “Roots Radicals” and its ode to roots reggae, scattered among older and newer fare. “This is the title track of our latest album,” said guitarist and singer Lars Frederiksen when introducing “Tomorrow Never Comes.” The band’s populist punk anthems connected with the crowd. “Do you know where the power lies?,” sang Frederiksen during “The 11^th Hour.” “It starts and ends with you,” answered co-frontman Tim Armstrong,” who wore a Ramones t-shirt and played a battered black Gretsch guitar slung almost to his knees. “Radio” offered gratitude for a haven from life’s troubles. “When I got the music, I got a place to go,” sang Armstrong. Frederiksen thanked fans for the band’s long career and said that his 12-year-old self would never have believed he’d be playing a rock show with his friends at Wrigley Field someday. The crowd raised rowdy voices singing “Destination Unknown” during set-closer “Ruby Soho.”

The evening began with youthful Los Angeles punk-rockers the Linda Lindas. The band blasted through a 20-minute set drawing from the 2022 album Growing Up and the forthcoming album No Obligation. With cat whiskers painted on her face, bassist Eloise Wong pogoed across the stage during the new song “All in My Head” and its expression of teen angst. “For this next song, we have Bela’s cat Nina with us,” said guitarist Lucia de la Garza when introducing the frustrated “Oh!” Guitarist Bela Salazar delivered the song’s spiky vocal while a sturdy gentleman danced nearby in an oversized rubber cat mask. Drummer Mila de la Garza, who celebrates her 14^th birthday this week, sang set-closer “Racist, Sexist Boy.” Wong exhorted the crowd in what would become a repeated theme during the evening. “Make sure to vote,” said the 16-year-old as the band left the stage.