The Day When I Saw Green Day

While I got into Green Day relatively late, I did get to GelreDome venue for my first Green Day concert on time. That didn't stop me from still almost not getting to see them at all, but I digress. I did see them and it was awesome. So, with emotions still fresh from that day, I wanted to create a little microcosm of why I love this band, my rocky road towards finally getting to see them live and, of course, what an absolutely epic of an experience a Green Day concert is.

Saviors - Why I Love Green Day

Some things come to you at the right time. Green Day was definitely that case for me, as I only properly got into their music back in 2019, when I was having, well, just a really shitty summer. I was lost in life, stuck, angry and disappointed at the world, while knowing that I only had myself to blame. It was during that time in my life, where I stumbled across Green Day and instantly felt connected.

I liked what they stood for and how they had stuck to their guns for the last three decades throughout the changing times. Even more so at the time, I simply liked how many of their songs were, with a lack of a better word, like these little odes to being a fuck-up. Listening to them gave me the feeling that you can still rock out to life even if you're a mess. A sense that you can still be in the moment and find beauty in life, despite being at a low point. And, well, not only did adopting this attitude start many important shifts in my life for the better, one thing also became clear - I really wanted to see them live.

2000 Light Years Away - Long Road to Seeing My Favourite Band Live

So, at the end of the same summer, when I suddenly had a little bit of extra money, I immediately bought tickets to their concert in Helsinki. Only for it to be canceled twice due to the pandemic. As strange days were here to stay, the next opportunity presented itself to me in 2024, when I bought the tickets to their show in GelreDome stadium in Netherlands. And well, with the band looking rejuvinated after the release of Saviors and a special someone as a concert companion, with whom I had first connected to while listening to a Green Day song, it felt like all the stars had aligned.

And indeed, already when getting to the venue, it felt right. Seeing the community the band has amassed over it's now close to 40 year run is wild, as the fans seemed to range from teens to 60-somethings and everything in between. We instantly felt at home and it was great to initially just hang out in front of the venue. All that was left to do, was show our tickets at the security check and finally get to see Green Day right? Well..

Too Dumb to Die - A Little Pre-Concert Adventure

So, that is the part, where this article becomes a brief idiot's guide to attending a huge concert in a foreign country. And lesson nr 1. - Read carefully what you can and cannot take with you to the concert venue. In my case, I had left my laptop in my bag. Now, as I have learned afterwards, it is a bit of a common knowledge that you don't do that. But that was useless to me at the moment, in which the facts were the following:

1. I had to store my laptop away somewhere, which contained all my work and lots of memories.
2. Our hotel was in a another city and, as we learend from the security guards, the closest public locker room was a good 45 min long walk away with no guarantees that it wouldn't be full already.
3. Green Day was on in less than 2 hours.

Armed with that knowledge, I set out from the concert venue in a strange city with a mission of safely storing away a laptop and getting back in time. My companion, who had low phone battery and difficulty walking long distances, stayed behind to hang out with the guards at the security check and provide me information in a case I ran into a dead end.

Luckily, I caught a stray taxi in front of the venue, who agreed to take me to to the luggage locker room and back. Before I could get in, however, I was stopped by another person, who asked me if we could share the ride. Turns out, he was an Argentinian Green Day fan, who had travelled all the way to Netherlands and who was facing the same issue as I (hailing from Estonia myself). So, encouraged by eachother's fuck ups, two not the brightest of Green Day fans from different sides of the globe went to hunt for storeaway space for our laptops in the city of Arnhem.

When we got to the locker rooms, they were of course full, leading us to a brief moment of desperation. My new buddy even said rather poetically, that "I guess I'll go cry in front of the stadium tonight." Me, at the same time, was on the phone with my concert partner and contenplating some rather absurd measures (I had to be talked out of a few), as there was nothing that was going to stop me from seeing the show that night.

I eventually just started calling through the nearby hotels, until I got one that had a room avaliable: a 5-star one. The receptionist said on the phone that she'll keep the room booking reserved for us for 15 minutes. Now, while not exactly big on budget, it was nevertheless the only realistic plan that would enable us to see Green Day and not lose our valuable posessions. So, we quickly made it into the hotel with the same taxi driver, who had stuck with us for the entirety of this logistical mess. In the hotel, the receptionist apologised that the room is not yet ready but added that we can still pay for our booking and store our stuff away in the meanwhile. So, exactly what we needed anyway. We did just that and got back to the venue with 20 or so minutes to spare.

I was then reunited with my partner in crime at the security check, who was still hanging with the guards, having made friends with a few of them and looking more secured at that moment than probably Green Day guys themselves. And with that little excursion out of the way, it was time for Green Day.

Welcome to Paradise - What a Show!

But enough about me being an idiot. Did Green Day deliver that day? Hell yes! The trio might be all in their fifties by now, but are still operating at a hundred. Indeed, while it's fair to assume that attending a Green Day show in the 90s' or early 00s' would have probably been an even wilder experience, the spark and energy were undeniable. Songs like Know Your Enemy and Holiday as performed live that day still packed the same anger and spark like they wrote it yesterday. The hits from the 90s' like Basket Case and Welcome to Paradise, on the other hand, still had that youthful energy to them without coming across like they're desperately clinging onto their good ol' days.

In fact, if anything, they wore their age very well. They had an ease to them that I suppose only a band can have, who has been around for so long. The sense that putting on a good show is like a second nature to them at this point and they're just there to enjoy themselves.

From the technical side, it was immediately apparent, just how well the guys have kept to their original mantra of making their studio recordings as close to the live experience as possible. Simply put, while the vocals and instruments were very clearly live and raw, hearing them at the concert for the first time felt like you had heard them live before already. A feeling that was apparent from literally the first few seconds, as the band went in big with The American Dream is Killing Me and kept delivering song after song during a monster setlist that covered more than 2 and a half albums.

Speaking of the songs, a thing that surprised me, was how some of their biggest songs didn't necessarily end up being the clear highlights for me. As much as I loved witnessing Basket Case, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Jesus of Suburbia and American Idiot live (definitely core memory level stuff), I found myself even more in the moment with songs like Letterbomb, Are We the Waiting, St. Jimmy, Whatshername, She and Burnout.

Maybe it was due to me not expecting some of these songs to be among the standouts of the night. Maybe the guys themselves actually did have more fun with them, as they don't get to play these live quite as often. Or maybe, I was just able to be in the moment for these songs more, because I wasn't trying to capture them on my phone, like I did with some these above mentioned bigger hits (a bad habit I was luckily able to keep to a minimum this time). Who knows.

But something that definitely stood out, was how well the newer songs from Saviors blended in with the older songs from Dookie and American Idiot. I remember reading an early mission statement for Saviors about it being an album that had a little bit of everything from each Green Day era. And boy was it hammered home live. Part of this huge setlist, the new songs really felt like they had already been around for a while. And I mean it in the best sense possible with One Eyed Bastard, Look Ma No Brains and Dilemma in particular blowing me away in live setting.

As for the guys themselves? Impressive. Both as a unit and indivually. Billie Joe is an amazing lead singer and you really have to see it live to fully appreciate just how bloody good he is at sensing the room and having the crowd at the palm of his hand. He actually surprised me vocally here and there, interreacted with the crowd a lot, joked around (saying that's half of the show done, when they were only half way through Dookie) and was simply a definitive lead singer in every sense. You could also appreciate his guitar skills live that aren't talked about too often.

Speaking of not talked about too often - Mike fucking Dirnt! Riffing on the stereotype that bass players often go unnoticed, you simply could not ignore his baselines live. Even more so, however, I did not expect him to have such great live vocals. Like, I knew he sings lead in a few of the songs like Homecoming but I was simply not prepared by just how natural he is at that in live setting. What can I say, these guys have many talents.

And keeping it all beating was of course non other than Mr. Tre Cool on the drums. I remember a recent interview, where Tre admired the drummers, who don't show off but simply serve the songs. And, well, he masterfully embodied it without missing a beat through the whole show. Of course, he got his moment to shine as well with a very beautiful rendition of All By Myself performed in a comfy bathrobe. So, just your ordinary Tre Cool stuff.

Naturally, we also cannot forget Jason White on the guitars and backing vocals here. Probably one the most legendary touring members ever, you really could appreciate just how essential of an element he is in bringing Green Day to live. On that note, shout-outs also to Jason Freese (keyboard) and Kevin Preston (guitar). Put it all together, and the way they all played off each other was like one big organism.

In fact, there were so many moments, where the entire crowd felt like one with the band. Something, which was perhaps best encapsulated in the feeling of singing along with thousands of people that "I walk this lonely road." From a personal side, it was also so much fun to sing along to these songs live together with a person, with whom I've sang them many times while driving in my car.

To Sum Up

All in all, when looking for the shortest way to sum up my first Green Day concert experience, the first word that comes to mind is, well, comfortable of all things. Just in the most hyped up way possbile if that makes any sense. Like Billie said "This is not a fucking party. This is a celebration!" And indeed it was. We had the time of our lives.

PS! After the concert, we made friends with a cool guy in a wheelchair, whose hobby was regularly attending rock concerts, often in the front row. Then we met up with the aforementioned Argentinian Green Day fan, took the taxi to the hotel to pick up our laptop stuff, hugged it out and went our separate ways, now having finally seen this epic band live.