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Green Day at the House of Blues, Anaheim

March 26, 2024

In mid-March, punk powerhouse Green Day was neck-deep into its four-day Saviors rehearsal at Anaheim’s 2,200-capacity House of Blues. But playing to a virtually vacant venue wasn’t a particularly telling measure of the band’s bearing and it lacked the all-important audience energy. So the trio elected to put up an actual show and at noon on Monday, March 18, a pop-up at Anaheim’s House of Blues was announced for the following day. Like a Taylor Swift show squared, the intimate jamboree sold out in minutes rather than hours.

In a case of tasty timing, Punk opener Ultra Q – fronted by Billie Joe Armstrong's youngest son Jakob – had released its second record Empty Eddy on March 13. Following the solid thirty-minute warm-up set, Green Day took the stage and launched into “American Idiot,” its de facto signature anthem. Throughout the hundred-minute, thirty-song performance, every track from the fifteen-song Saviors was played, virtually in order, save for the title track. “Saviors” was delivered second, which marked its live debut, as did several other first-time tunes, as below. Selections from American Idiot and Dookie – which this year celebrate their twentieth and thirtieth anniversaries, respectively – were likewise sprinkled in. Accordingly, bangers such as “Homecoming,” “She” and show-closer “Minority” electrified show-goers. Spotted in the audience was Green Day’s longtime master mix engineer and friend to Music Connection Chris Lord-Alge accompanied by his assistant Brian Judd.

After the post-show house lights had come up and the crowd had thinned, drummer Tré Cool doled out drumsticks from the stage, which had the feeling of an after-dinner mint. The remaining flock of fans couldn’t have been served a daintier dessert. Produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo alongside the band, Saviors dropped on January 19. The world tour kicks off May 30 in Spain.