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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:

+1 - Opening strong with the pit-inducing “Burnout,” Billie Joe Armstrong played his prized guitar Blue throughout the duration of the set. Fun fact, this was the ONLY guitar used to record electric guitars on Dookie.

+1 - Bassist Mike Dirnt also sported an orange jumpsuit through the Dookie portion of the set as an ode to the outfit he wore in the “Basket Case” music video. 

+1 - 11 tracks in, the band ripped into the beloved “When I Come Around.” And that’s it, that’s the point. The song is 30 years old and still rips. But seriously, how many bands wouldn’t be around if Green Day never released that song?

+1 - To the delight of fans, “Coming Clean” featured the giant inflatable bomber plane piloted by a dog that is shown on the Dookie album artwork. 

+1 - Concluding the hit-laden set, Tre Cool performed a solo orchestral version of “All By Myself” clothed in a leopard print bathrobe, ending his performance with a sensational striptease.

After a brief greatest hits detour in between album playthroughs (more on that later), up next was the avant-garde concept record American Idiot.

AMERICAN IDIOT:

+1 - The backdrop for this set featured the iconic inflatable hand holding the heart grenade as shown on the American Idiot album artwork. 

+1 - “Are We The Waiting” featured possibly the biggest disco ball we’ve ever seen in our life. Seriously, they should look to see what the world record is because that thing was HUGE! Nonetheless, the giant ball illuminated showgoers for the perfect punk rock slow dance. 

+1 - Speaking of illumination, the massive Arizona crowd lit up the entire baseball stadium with their cell phone lights during “Wake Me Up When September Ends” leaving plenty of fans an emotional wreck.

+1 - Bonus point for seeing “Wake Me Up When September Ends” in the month of September. Billie Joe even started the song by stating, “It’s that time of year.”

+1 - Keeping with the American Idiot subject, Green Day displayed a giant QR code that allowed fans to register to vote in the upcoming election. Armstrong also gave the lyrics to “American Idiot” a modern twist singing, “Don’t wanna be part of the MAGA agenda.” 

TOTAL: Dookie - 5 American Idiot - 5

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

-1 - Billie Joe apparently choked on an Advil at the end of “One Eyed Bastard” prompting him to briefly leave the stage before returning to perform “Dilemma.”

+1 - The intro to “Brain Stew” featured a mashup of “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath and Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.” 

+1 - The evening concluded with Billie Joe Armstrong serenading the crowd with “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” and featured a firework show big enough to give Times Square a run for its money.

WINNER: The Fans

Although some may differ on which record brought the most heat throughout the night, the real winner was every fan who attended the show. It didn’t matter if they first heard these legendary albums on cassette tape, CD, vinyl, or via streaming, they were rocking out to every song and having the absolute best time imaginable. 

Despite the tireless three-piece Green Day playing some of these songs hundreds of times over the course of their career, the energy and visuals they provided made it feel like you are experiencing them for the first time all over again. 

And for that, Billie Joe was correct by calling the evening a “celebration.” We had the time of our life at The Saviors Tour!