Green Day, ever youthful, closes Riot Fest 2025 with full-throated message of resistance
Some major events have the Goodyear Blimp. For Riot Fest, Green Day brought out the Bad Year Blimp.
As the trio worked their way through the material off their 2004 punk rock opera “American Idiot,” the oversized inflatable printed with their flippant revision hovered over the crowd. The prop was a timely pièce de résistance after Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool delivered powerful renditions of much of the material off their concept album/Broadway musical, with Armstrong adding in topical commentary along the way.
“Now is the most important time to speak your mind,” he said after the title track and before diving into “Holiday,” hailing it an anti-fascism song and declaring, “F—k the FCC.”
“American Idiot” remains uncannily current 20 years later. All Armstrong had to do was change a few lines to make it relevant for this era, which he did during the Riot Fest set, taking a swipe at the “MAGA agenda” in the lyric, “I'm not a part of a redneck agenda.”
Green Day has never been one to mince words, especially not during the current administration. They frequently use their platform as a form of activism, like any good punk band worth its salt, even as the band reigns as one of the genre’s most mainstream and high-profile targets. Later in the set, the singer dedicated 2024 track and the fan-crowned bisexual anthem “Bobby Sox” to “all the LGBTQ people out there … because they are all of us and everyone has their right to love and choose who they want to be. Always remember we will always support you and got your back and f—k the people that try to demonize other people because they are a little bit different.”
Green Day’s outspokenness is such a glow-up for the Bay Area punks who in the ’90s used to write songs about boredom and young-adult ennui. That perspective, of course, makes up much of their 1994 hit record “Dookie,” which the band also largely padded into the set (from “Longview” and “Welcome To Paradise” to “She”) in an interesting parallel.
Like Riot Fest itself, both of Green Day’s marquee albums are coming off a big anniversary year, and there was a similar celebration to be had for how far the band has come and an oath to keep going. In May, the trio was honored with their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This month, they’re the inspiration for a new movie starring Fred Armisen. “New Year’s Rev” (in coordination with Live Nation, the concert producing behemoth) is a road trip tale of a baby band on their way to L.A. to open for legends on New Year’s Eve.
On Monday, Green Day heads back to where a lot of the ruckus began for them in Chicago — Q101’s studios — where they’ll perform an intimate set for some very lucky fans. “How many middle-school Green Day fans are out there tonight?” Armstrong asked the massive crowd that had gathered Sunday. The response was nearly unanimous.
In a weekend full of nostalgia and throwbacks, the only ones seemingly not getting older are Green Day. Armstrong, Dirnt and Tré Cool are the vampires of punk rock: They look and perform songs like “Brain Stew” and “Basket Case” just like they did in the MTV days, with a reservoir of infectious energy and youthful spirit they should consider bottling and selling.
Even the slow songs were just as effective. “Wake Me Up When September Ends” netted one big happy singalong. Ending with the final salute of “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” was the perfect way to close out Riot Fest’s special anniversary weekend. There’s probably not a single person who could say they didn’t have the time of their lives the past three days.
Green Day’s Riot Fest 2025 set list
American Idiot
Holiday
Know Your Enemy
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
One Eyed Bastard
Revolution Radio
The Grouch
Longview
Welcome to Paradise
Hitchin’ a Ride
Going to Pasalacqua
Brain Stew
St. Jimmy
21 Guns
Minority
Basket Case
When I Come Around
She
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Jesus of Suburbia
Bobby Sox
Suzie Chapstick
Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)