'Dookie' vs. 'American Idiot' – Green Day's The Saviors Tour [Show Review] | THE NOISE


photos: Moe Horta

Green Day fans: Dookie or American Idiot? “Basket Case” or “Holiday?” Today, we settle the debate once and for all as to which Green Day songs rock the hardest live thanks in part to the band’s colossal Saviors Tour. 

In what frontman Billie Joe Armstrong called a “celebration,” the legendary punks ripped into a jaw-dropping, career-spanning, 37-song set commemorating 30 years of their trailblazing record Dookie and 20 years of the politically-charged, chart-topping album American Idiot.


Taking place at Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks, fans were rattling with excitement as the long-awaited night kicked off with up-and-coming rockers The Linda Lindas. Their energetic set shined a light on the shape of punk to come and also featured surprise guest appearances from both Green Day’s Tre Cool and Bille Joe. 


Up next were OG East Bay punks Rancid, who wasted no time commanding the crowd while Tim Armstrong and Co. blasted into songs from their cult classic ...And Out Come The Wolves, as well as their most recent release, Tomorrow Never Comes


Sticking to the night’s theme of superb showstoppers, the one and only Smashing Pumpkins took the stage ripping into their renowned hits “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, “1979,” “Zero,” and and even covered U2’s “Zoo Station.”


At last, the reason we’re all here: It was finally Green Day’s turn to rip into their two massive LPs in front of 40,000-plus showgoers. To help us settle the score of which iconic record came out on top as the ultimate best, we decided to rank each part of Green Day’s set based on memorable moments from the show – it’s a very simple scoring system, even an American Idiot can follow along. 

Jumping into the band’s game-changing 1994 release: 

DOOKIE: