#hell mega tour

BY JORDAN MAINZER

The lights went out, and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” played, followed by The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop”, as the trademark “person in a pink bunny suit” pretending to be drunk pumped up the crowd. Perhaps no two songs, nor the aforementioned image, encapsulate Green Day’s career any better. The East Bay punks eventually turned into rock opera scribes, all the while maintaining their sense of irreverence. But what separates Green Day’s live performance is a sense of togetherness, even in the face of songs about impending political revolution or the threat of debilitating apathy. As Billie Joe Armstrong and company launched into the title track of American Idiot, the first of a breakneck 21-song set, they had a sold out Wrigley Field chanting every word back to them. Each of their songs feel born from a specific time and place, but if they have anything, its generational staying power, and not just because songs about the evils of the Bush administration have proved still relevant given recent news.

At this point, Green Day can play a seamless, pitch-perfect set in their sleep. Armstrong’s voice is smooth when it needs to be on “Wake Me Up When September Ends”, delving into bratty screams for maximum impact on “Brain Stew”. Bassist Mike Dirnt’s playing is limber and heavy, introducing “Longview” with confidence and ease, while drummer Tré Cool breaks down and builds back up “Welcome to Paradise” the same way you remember when you first heard it. Their addition of touring musicians--guitarist and vocalist Jason White, long-time multi-instrumentalist Jason Freese, and newcomer Kevin Preston--gives their more rounded out songs a depth to add beneath their otherwise jagged edges. And of course, Armstrong’s a man of the people. He’s found a way to bring fans on stage in the era of COVID, making sure those who come on to help them cover Operation Ivy’s “Knowledge” stay far from their bubble and can keep the guitar afterwards. In a more subtle way, when he could have easily addressed the crowd as “Chicago,” he also included neighboring states and the entire Midwest, recognizing that this show was the tour’s only one in flyover country. (Don’t worry, Wrigley fans; he did “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during “Minority”, correctly singing, “Root for the Cubbies.”)

Yeah, I could pick a couple bones with the set, like no “Jaded” immediately after “Brain Stew”, and the mere existence of buzzkill “21 Guns” in the setlist. For the most part, though, this is a band who knows exactly what it’s doing and is very good at it, giving the crowd only 2 songs written after 2010.

If nostalgia sells, then Weezer’s set was for you, from their Jazz cup color scheme to Rivers Cuomo’s mullet-and-mustache look. I mean, their second 2021 album is called Van Weezer, for goodness sakes. Their Halen tributes start with entering the stage to “Jump” and peak at Cuomo’s two-handed tapping riff on “The End of the Game”, but they’re referenced in performances of classics, like the riffing on the outro of “My Name is Jonas”. Like Green Day, Weezer have always balanced angst with tongue-in-cheek humor, but with little room for politics, they’re all fun and games. Recent tunes like “Hero”, “Fees Like Summer”, and “All My Favorite Songs” are catchy, appropriately thoughtless ear candy, as is their cover of Toto’s “Africa”. And Weezer, too, knows why their fans are there, to hear “El Scorcho” and “Say It Ain’t So” and be drowned in purple and turquoise confetti during “Buddy Holly”.

To me, Green Day and Weezer’s embrace of absurdity is why the inclusion of Fall Out Boy on this tour--especially sandwiched in between the other two--felt off. I’ll be the first to admit it: They’re not my cup of tea, so I might not be the best judge of their set, and a packed stadium faithfully holding up phone lights during all the slow songs probably proves me wrong. But aside from the genuine coolness of a Wilmette band getting to play once again at the ballpark they grew up going to, the whole concept of their set felt at once overcooked and over-earnest. A video intro and outro from, uh, Ron Livingston, and multiple set changes fit a narrative about as structured as something from the mind of latter-day Billy Corgan. Their blowtorch guitars and piano lasted multiple songs, dulling their effect, while Patrick Stump belted “Save Rock and Roll” and “The Least of the Real Ones”. They sounded best when their songs had little fanfare, on classics like “Sugar, We’re Going Down”, “Dance, Dance”, and the stomping “I Don’t Care”. And if they could spend on fireworks during “Centuries”, they could surely have gotten a horn section for “Irresistible” instead of relying on samples.

Speaking of horns, if you’re looking for a band that made the most of their allotted time and opportunity, that would probably be L.A. ska punk band The Interrupters, who blasted through a fun, raw 8-song set while much of the crowd was still walking in. They played pretty evenly from their three studio albums, plus a cover of Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy”. The throaty delivery of singer Aimee Allen (aka Aimee Interrupter) was the perfect complement to the literal band of brothers, guitarist Kevin Bivona and bassist and drummer Justin and Jesse. It was a set both well-played and curated by the bookers, one that should generate some crossover fandom with the other established bands and that fit the celebratory, somewhat sardonic tone of Green Day and Weezer. I mean, if you’re gonna call it the Hella Mega Tour, you want bands that can take a joke.