On Saturday, Sept. 28, Petco Park was transformed into a pop punk heaven as it welcomed Green Day on the Saviors tour’s final night. The group brought three openers along for the ride: The Linda Lindas, Rancid and The Smashing Pumpkins. 

This tour doesn’t just honor the titular album, it’s also a celebration of the 20th anniversary of American Idiot and 30th of Dookie, and both were played in their entirety. Fans showed up to Petco Park ready to rock, clad in their best punk rock attire. 

Before the headliners took the stage, the audience got to warm up with rock newcomers The Linda Lindas. The Los Angeles based band was formed in 2018 and is composed of sisters Mila and Lucia de la Garza, Bela Salazar and Eloise Wong. 

The oldest of the girls recently turned 20 years old, while the youngest is only 14. Their walk-out song was the theme song for “Kars 4 Kids,” a detail poking fun at their age gap with the other bands. 

The girl group played some of their hits such as “Growing up” and “No Obligation:” the latter of which rallied fans to create a mosh pit. Later, Eloise got on the mic to passionately remind everyone to register to vote. This message was followed by them rocking out to one of their most angsty hits “Racist, Sexist Boys.”

Next to take the stage was 90s rockers, Rancid. Although the band members are a bit older than the Lindas in age, they certainly can still match their energy. These seasoned performers were incredible to watch, and it was even more incredible to watch as people in the audience who grew up listening to them, still fangirled as hard as ever. 

Their set kicked off strong with “Maxwell Murder” and “Roots Radical.” The crowd sang and headbanged along to every killer track. Armstrong shouted out the Linda Lindas, who had gone straight from their set to the pit. Armstrong thanked the group again and dedicated their performance of “Time Bomb” to the girls. 

After Rancid concluded, a gong rang through the stadium as the highly anticipated penultimate band entered the stage. That band was Smashing Pumpkins. 

The legendary group was started by lead singer Billy Corgan in 1988. Currently, he is joined by James Iha, Jimmy Chamberlain, Katie Cole, Jack Bates and newcomer Kiki Wong. By the time the Pumpkins took the stage, most people in the crowd were on their feet and ready for a sensory overload of pure punk. 

The group played some of their all time classics such as “Today,” “Bullet With Butterfly Wings” and “1979.” “Bullet” got the whole crowd jumping, while “1979” had everyone passionately singing along. They seamlessly blended upbeat, heart-pounding rock with moments of tender angst. Before we all knew it, the final notes of their closing song “Zero” rang out, and it was time for Green Day themselves. 

Before we knew it, there they were. Founding members Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool were joined by tour members Jason White, Jason Freese and Kevin Preston. The group opened with their newest track, “The American Dream is Killing Me.” This opening number featured the pink and black color scheme of the Saviors album, immediately immersing the audience in the music. 

This immersion was even more prominent as the second song began, and the “Dookie” album cover was brought to life on stage. The explosion depicted in the cover rubbed off on the crowd as a fight broke out in the pit after “Burnout.”  Armstrong handled it like a professional and immediately told them to settle down. To make sure they calmed down, he had the whole audience take some deep breaths and “Ohms” filled the space. 

Crisis averted, the band played through the rest of the album including one of their biggest hits “Basket Case.” As much fun as the crowd was having in the seats,  Armstrong was matching it up on stage. 

He wore bunny ears and hats given to him by the pit and showed off some sick dance moves during “In the End.” The Dookie portion of the set was closed out by drummer Tre Cool, giving us a solo performance of their song “All by Myself” while clad in a cheetah print robe. 

This middle section was a bit more of a hodgepodge. It kicked off with the 2009 hit “Do You Know the Enemy,” which featured  Armstrong picking a fan  from the crowd to come up on stage and sing with him; her name was Parker and she crushed it. 

The band then played through a few more tracks from Saviors and debuted  “1981” on this tour, with Armstrong tossing in fun cover song snippets along the way. “Dilemma” featured a guitar intro of “Free Fallin,” and the final song of this section, “Brain Stew,” was preceded by the guitar riff from Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man.” 

Suddenly, the well known image of a fist holding a heart-shaped grenade was lit up on stage, signaling one thing: American Idiot. The title track kicked off with a bang, as everyone in attendance sang along with the band at the top of their lungs. 

Another highlight came during “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” when  Armstrong had the stadium lights turned off, asking the crowd to “light up the California sky” with our phone flashlights. It was a beautiful sight. 

Armstrong then took a moment to speak on the first time they ever played a show in San Diego. This historic night was in 1992 at The Che Café, a venue on the UCSD campus with a 170 person capacity. Now, 32 years later, they were playing to over 40,000 people at Petco Park. 

After playing through “Letterbomb,”  Armstrong had a message for the crowd that was quintessential American Idiot.

“It’s too easy to say f*** America…” Armstrong said. “What we want is a new America! Something that’s inclusive for all of us, with compassion and love and joy!”

All the lights turned off for a moment, and when they returned only Armstrong stood on stage. 

“It’s almost over,” Armstrong began, which was met by cries from the crowd. “September, that is,” he clarified with a laugh.

Leading to the most fitting song to be played on September 28th, “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” After just a couple more songs, the explosive American Idiot set had come to an end; when I say “explosive” I mean it. Green Day loves fireworks. 

After one last Saviors track,  Armstrong acted like the show was over, saying “We don’t do encores, that’s for conceited rockstars.” He then promptly turned back to the crowd to play the opening notes of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).”

After playing the finale solo, Armstrong was joined on stage by Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool. The original three hugged and took a moment to soak in the love of their adoring fans. Once the moment had passed, Dirnt and Cool ran across the stage throwing out drumsticks and bass picks into the pit as souvenirs. The last fireworks of the night erupted into the sky behind the stage, and just like that, it really was over.

Even after all these years, Green Day still knows how to put on a spectacular show.