Photos and a review of Green Day (and Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid, and The Linda Lindas) in Toronto

[Ross MacDonald was at the Rogers Centre on August 1 for Green Day (and Smashing Pumpkins and Rancid and The Linda Lindas). Here’s his report. – AC]

On the first day of August, Toronto was right in the middle of a mid-summer heat wave. So obviously there was no better time for a five-plus hour long punk rock extravaganza. But an hour before the show even started, many early concert-goers were treated to a surprise airshow over downtown. Coincidently, the Italian Air Force’s aerobatic team did a series of precision flyovers in their 11-jet formation, trailing smoke in the colours of the Italian flag. And this may have been a bit of foreshadowing as to events that were going to occur several hours later inside Rogers Centre (formerly known as SkyDome).

However, the 43,000 fans descending on the stadium were filing into SkyDome (it’s hard to shake that original name) to see Green Day on the second date of their ‘Saviors’ North American tour. But before the crowd could get to the main act, there were three opening bands. Green Day were making a mini punk rock festival and brought along some of their friends.

First up, coming onstage right at 5:30pm was a new punk-rock band out of Los Angeles, The Linda Lindas. They are a very young band, ranging in age from 13 to 19 years of age. The band came out on stage in a somewhat nonchalant manner, placing a stuffed mascot by Linda Linda #4 (Mila)’s drum set.

Then it was a very quick 1-2-3-4 and mayhem broke out. It seems like The Linda Lindas may get some inspiration from The Ramones with their hard and fast repertoire. And they were having fun. Notably Linda Linda #2 (Eloise) had painted big black cat whiskers on her face, and like a cat trying to be rounded up for bath-time, she could not be caught; all the way picking fast thumping beats on her bass.

Meanwhile Linda Linda #1 (Bela) and #3 (Lucia) were trading a mix of power chords and licks on their guitars. It was evident that The Linda Lindas were having a great time, they were all smiling throughout their set with the look of pure joy.

It was unique to see that all four members of The Linda Lindas share lead vocal duties. The band closed out their set with their hit song ‘Racist, Sexist Boy’ which takes full aim at racism and sexism that continues to be a problem. The future of punk-rock is in good hands!

After one of the fastest stage changes ever, next up were fellow California punk rockers Rancid. And fortunately for Rancid they got a chance to perform their full set (note: several nights earlier on the tour opening date Rancid’s set was cut short after a couple of songs due to torrential rains).

Like The Linda Lindas, due to the time constraint of having four bands perform, Rancid wasted no time and broke into a hard and fast ‘Maxwell Murder’.

Singer and guitarist Tim Armstrong (no relation to Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong) made great use of the stage, including the catwalk. And what is a signature feat, twice Tim jumped up off a riser while not missing a strum on his hollow-body Gretsch.

Both Tim and Lars share lead vocals, all the while being backed up by bassist Matt Freeman. Drummer Branden Steineckert is powerful, hitting the skins very hard throughout the 45 minute set.

And although there were no saxophones on stage, a certain ska influence could be heard within a lot of their songs. Rancid closed out their set with their two massive punk anthems ‘Time Bomb’ followed by ‘Ruby Soho’. The crowd were singing along at the tops of their voices.

It was another quick stage change and out came The Smashing Pumpkins. Before the show, some were saying that the Pumpkins seemed to be an unusual fit with three California punk bands.

But any doubts about the fit were put to rest as soon as the Pumpkins started into their opening song ‘The Everlasting Gaze’. It is a hard and fast song musically, and even Billy Corgan’s vocals were on punk speed. Billy had a long black cloak and a backwards Z painted on his forehead, with blue face-paint under his eyes.

And yes, James Iha’s guitar prowess is not synonymous with punk, but he seemed to play with less effects on this night. James, in a white jumpsuit, did perform an outstanding solo on a cover of U2’s ‘Zoo Station’ that drew many extra-loud cheers.

Bringing everything together was Jimmy Chamberlin’s beats; he remains one of the most underrated drummers in the business. His intricacies actually pushed the Pumpkins more into a punk-like direction for their performance, while maintaining their alt-rock vibe.

Just this year The Smashing Pumpkins held an open audition for a new touring guitarist and the winner was master-shredder Kiki Wong. Kiki has added a youthful and energetic stage presence that is the perfect fit for this tour with Green Day.

In what was a recurring theme, the Pumpkins didn’t talk much as they were on a tight schedule to fit in as much music as possible. After the opening song James did address the audience thanking them for the applause and passing along how happy the band is to be out on the road and visiting Toronto again (the second time in two years).

The Smashing Pumpkins performed beautifully, the three guitars of Billy, James, and Kiki gave a full sound, and Billy was also backed up on vocals by James and long-time touring singer Katie Cole in her long flowing gown.

And throughout their hour-long set Billy’s vocals are strong as ever, as was especially evident on their closing song ‘Cherub Rock’ with its big variations in intonation.

After one final stage setup, it was time for the evening’s headliners: Green Day. Officially they are embarking on the Saviors Tour; however, 2024 is the 30th anniversary of Green Day’s breakthrough album Dookie and it is also the 20th anniversary of their number one album American Idiot.

After some recorded music, and a pink punk bunny on stage, warmed up the crowd, out came Green Day silhouetted by some backlight. The band opened with their first single off their new Saviors album, ‘The American Dream Is Killing Me’. The song is full-on punk with its fast beat and power chords, and especially the poignant lyrics of varied social problems.

Not only the music, but the lighting and pyrotechnical effects gave a complete sensory experience to the night. Flames were coming out of the Marshall speaker stacks at the back of the stage, and every once in a while, when least expected, loud flash-bangs were set off to keep everyone on their toes.

After the opening song Green Day played all the songs on Dookie, in order, from ‘Burnout’ to ‘F.O.D.’. Billie Joe started off ‘F.O.D.’ with the first verse to Bryan Adams’ ‘Summer of ’69’ in a nice nod to Canadian rock music. After ‘F.O.D.’ the stage went dark and all that was left was Tré Cool who came forward to the front of the stage, microphone in hand and wearing a leopard print coat and shorts. Tré Cool then did a solo performance of the Dookie bonus track ‘All by Myself’.

As mentioned earlier, the Italian Air Force flyover was a bit of a premonition: during the performance of ‘Coming Clean’ and ‘Emenius Sleepus’ a 10 metre inflatable airplane made a tour of the concert floor. The plane resembled an F-86 fighter jet, like on the Dookie album cover.

Green Day did something unique for their stage setup. Behind Tré Cool’s drum riser was an inflatable mushroom cloud like on the cover of Dookie. Later, when the band played the American Idiot album, the mushroom cloud deflated and was replaced by a giant inflatable hand holding the heart-shaped hand grenade.

Likely because of the mission to run through two full albums (in order), and throw in some additional songs, Green Day did not have much chit-chat with the crowd. There were thanks for the applause, and impromptu interactions in the middle of many of the songs, but there was no off-topic banter or stories between songs. Billie Joe did prompt the audience with several “HEY OH!” throughout the concert; and each time the audience eagerly obliged by replying with a “HEY OH!” echo. He often encouraged the audience to sing along; but really they didn’t need any encouragement.

All evening there was a lot of times that everyone was singing along with Billie Joe; notable on the big hits like ‘Longview’, ‘Welcome to Paradise’, ‘Basket Case’, and ‘When I Come Around’ during the Dookie phase. And Billie Joe shared the love, continually going out to both sides of the stage, and coming out forward on the catwalk throughout the concert.

Tré Cool’s hands are as fast as ever. Punk needs a hard and fast rhythm section. Tré Cool doesn’t limit himself to his snare, he makes a lot use of his toms, including many drumrolls and syncopated off-beats. It’s as if Tré Cool must be part octopus, he can’t possibly have just two arms.

After Dookie, Green Day played a few singles before starting into American Idiot. First up was ‘Know Your Enemy’. Billie Joe didn’t want to complete the song solo, so halfway through he called out for someone to sing along with him on stage. A young lady with big red tie in the front row (Nicky) came up on stage obviously very excited. It was evident that Nicky is a huge fan and performed well, through her joy.

All the band had endless energy, but Billie Joe acts, looks, and sounds like he found the fountain of youth. Green Day are still full-on intensity. Billie Joe started a solo intro of Tom Petty’s ‘Free Fallin”, but then went into their most recent single ‘Dilemma’. The rendition was reminiscent of The Pixies music with a mix of quiet, loud, quiet, then super loud!

Green Day started the next song ‘Minority’ with a bang, literally. The tempo kept picking up in the bridge, slowed in the verse, then picked up again even faster, keeping the fans on their toes, and on their feet. The song ended with another flashbang; how is it the crowd kept getting startled by all that pyro?

Billie Joe did another partial cover playing a part of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ as an intro to ‘Brain Stew/Jaded’. All evening Mike provided very strong backing vocals. Not simply a few “oooos” and “aaaaahs” (he did those), but Mike added many harmonies to Billie Joe, including taking over some vocals when Billie Joe was running around the stage.

Going into the second verse of ‘American Idiot’ Billie Joe made a slight change to a lyric, subbing out “I’m not part of a redneck agenda” for “I’m not part of a MAGA agenda”; to great delight of the crowd. The songs have aged well, it is as if ‘American Idiot’ or ‘Minority’ were penned yesterday.

In the middle of ‘Boulevard of Broken Dreams’ Billie Joe called for the lights to go down, and that everyone put on their cell phone lights. Everyone obliged and the stadium was full of points of light. Then Billie Joe put down his guitar and sang a heartfelt ballad for ‘We Are The Waiting’.

In the middle of ‘Letterbomb’ Billie Joe declared: “This is not a party, this is a celebration!” The Clash that proved that punk rock can be melodious. The essence of punk is the message, and Green Day delivers in spades. Many of their songs deal front on with politics, but they also sing about relationships. None more poignant than ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’, a song about Billie Joe losing his father. 

And the true meaning of punk continues with the new single off the Saviors album, ‘Bobby Sox’, which deals with anti-discrimination and the acceptance of LGBT+.

After two and a half hours, Green Day closed the evening with Billie Joe doing a solo acoustic performance of ‘Good Riddance’. As predicted, it was a beautiful sing-along. At the end of the song the confetti cannons went off and Billie Joe was joined by Mike and Tré Cool for final bows. At the end of the show Tré Cool brought out his container of drum sticks and threw them out to the eager fans still cheering.

There was a lot of reminiscing about the epic concert by all the fans as they filed out into the warm Toronto night.

Green Day:
Billie Joe Armstrong – lead vocals, guitar
Mike Dirnt – bass vocals
Tré Cool – drums, percussion, vocals

The Smashing Pumpkins:
Billy Corgan – lead vocals, guitars
James Iha – guitars, vocals
Jimmy Chamberlin – drums

Touring musicians:
Jack Bates – bass
Katie Cole – keyboards, backing vocals
Kiki Wong – guitars

Rancid:
Tim Armstrong – guitar, vocals
Matt Freeman – bass, vocals
Lars Frederiksen – guitar, vocals
Branden Steineckert – drums, backing vocals

The Linda Lindas:
Bela Salazar (Linda Linda #1) – guitar, vocals
Eloise Wong (Linda Linda #2) – bass, vocals
Lucia de la Garza (Linda Linda #3) – guitar, vocals
Mila de la Garza (Linda Linda #4) – drums, vocals