Green Day Launch ‘Saviors’ in Style at Irving Plaza

On the eve of the release of their latest LP, Saviors (Jan. 19), the hottest ticket in New York City was Green Day‘s intimate show as part of SiriusXM’s Small Stage Series. Some had been lining up in the chilly 30-degree weather for hours to get a good spot and the band’s 26-song set made up for the less-than-pleasant wait. 

Typically playing baseball and football stadiums, Green Day wanted to treat fans who missed them at small clubs in the ’90s to the experience for this album cycle. These intimate shows have ranged from a surprise gig at London pub The Marquis to playing Las Vegas’ 1,000-cap venue Fremont Country Club. This one wasn’t any less special than the others, with a set that included many of the band’s beloved songs from across their catalog. 

Green Day walked onstage to The Champs’ “Tequila,” launching into a thunderous version of frequent set opener “American Idiot.” The mood shifted when the band opted to play six songs in a row from Saviors, including the live debut of “One Eyed Bastard.” 

Though energetic, the performance couldn’t distract from how misguided the new songs are, in particular, the Weezer meets Machine Gun Kelly love song “Bobby Sox.” In a live setting, the melodies felt like half-hearted attempts to capture the magic from the band’s earlier hits. 

Fans weren’t as interested in the Saviors part of the set, with many blankly watching the band without as much as a headbang. However, their vigor returned when the band switched to “Burnout,” lightly moshing and belting out the Dookie hit. Billie Joe Armstrong matched the audience’s energy towards the older material, imploring the crowd to sing along to another Dookie classic, “Longview.” 

As someone crowd-surfed to the stage in the middle of the song, Armstrong urged, “Hey, put your phones away! Put them away! Just enjoy the moment. The last thing we need is for fuckin’ Elon Musk to be bitchin’ about anything anymore.” The comment was about Musk’s tweet about the band following their “MAGA agenda” inclusion on “American Idiot” (replacing “redneck agenda”) during their New Year’s Rockin’ Eve performance: “Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it​​.” But as usual, Musk was wrong. Green Day’s still got it—and remain one of rock’s tightest live bands. 

Besides other Dookie highlights “Basket Case” and “She,” which were a reminder of the staying power of those tracks two weeks shy of the album’s 30th anniversary, Green Day honored another upcoming anniversary: American Idiot turning 20. The set heavily featured the 2004 album’s hits, featuring songs like “Holiday” and crowd favorite “St. Jimmy.” The band made sure to close with “Homecoming” and “Whatsername,” two of the most poignant tracks from the record. 

Green Day knows that though they won over millennials with American Idiot in 2004, the records that turned them into one of the biggest rock bands besides Dookie and Nimrod (which surprisingly wasn’t featured at all during the set) are Kerplunk!, Insomniac and Warning. A performance for some of Green Day’s biggest fans felt apt to include rare performances of “Christie Road,” “Stuart and the Ave.,” and Warning‘s title track. Armstrong sweetly also paused “Minority” to celebrate the birthdays of touring bandmates Kevin Preston and Jason Freese. 

There was no encore, but fans left Irving Plaza satisfied. Many bands shy away from their greatest hits, especially when they have a new album out, but Green Day’s fervor while performing the songs that turned them into one of the biggest rock bands is to be admired.

Green Day’s Irving Plaza setlist:

American Idiot

Look Ma, No Brains!

The American Dream Is Killing Me

Dilemma

One Eyed Bastard (Live debut)

Bobby Sox

1981

Burnout

Longview

Welcome to Paradise

She

Holiday

Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Letterbomb

Minority (with “Happy Birthday to You” snippet dedicated to Kevin Preston and Jason Freese.)

2000 Light Years Away

One of My Lies

Stuart and the Ave.

Christie Road

Brain Stew

St. Jimmy

Warning

Revolution Radio

Basket Case

Homecoming

Whatsername