Hella Mega Tour at Fenway Park

When major summer tours were being announced pre Covid 19 pandemic, one in particular was a dream tour for anyone that grew up in both the 90’s and 00’s. The Hella Mega Tour featuring Green Day, Weezer and Fall Out Boy with the Interrupters opening finally kicked off July 24th in Arlington, TX. Just five days in, Fall Out Boy announced they would not be able to perform in both NYC and Boston for a Covid-19 case on their team. The Hell Mega Tour came to Fenway Park in Boston, MA on August 5th following Guns’ N Roses and Billy Joel the previous nights.

Ska Punk band The Interrupters kicked off the show. The Interrupters was formed in Los Angeles, CA and consisted of three brothers Kevin, Justin, and Jess (Bivona) and lead vocalist Aimee (Allen) Interrupter. The group has had quite a successful career in their ten year tenure having released three albums, performed on the Vans Warped Tour, and have toured with Ska Punk legends like Rancid, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Reel Big Fish. Although it is a long night of music between what would usually be four groups, you definitely don’t want to miss this group. Although they only had so much room on stage with Weezer's massive set-up behind them they sure made full use of it.

Weezer, also from Los Angeles, CA followed. In the 27 years since Weezer’s debut Blue Album, the group has become one of the biggest across the country and has released a staggering 15 studio albums. Weezer released two albums in both 2019 and this year. One thing you can expect from a Weezer show is a totally unique stage set-up each tour and usually they have a new album to promote. Weezer had their first number one in ten years with a cover of Toto’s Africa in 2018 on their Teal Album consisting only of cover songs. With Weezer’s stage set with amps all over it was easy to see they were paying tribute to Van Halen, but also their latest album was titled Van Weezer and to symbolize the colors on it the amps on stage and drum riser were very colorful and also like the cover had giant lighting bolts on stage. In addition to the amps the drumset was very over the top having six bass drums to spell out Weezer. To top it off Weezer’s intro song they walked out onstage to was Van Halen’s Jump. Weezer’s current formation of Rivers Cuomo (Guitar/Lead Vocals), Brian Bell (Guitar/Backing Vocals/Keys), Patrick Wilson (Drums), and Scott Shriner (Bass/Backing Vocals/Keys) has been together since 2001.

Weezer played a total of 18 songs starting with “Hero” off Van Weezer followed by a classic “Hash Pipe.” As always “Beverly Hills” became a sing-a-long. The show was full of fan favorites including “Pork and Beans,” and “Undone-The Sweater Song.” Also it was a very summer theme set with songs like “Feels Like Summer,” “Surf Wax America,” “El Scorcho,” “Island in the Sun.” Cuomo was sporting a very 80s look with a black leather biker jacket, long black hair and Jackson guitar with a lighting bolt paint job. To simply put it Weezer is always a fun band to see and it’s always a mystery what their appearance and stage will be. During “Africa,” fans pulled out their phones and waved them around with the flashlight on. The final songs were two of their biggest hits “Say It Ain’t So,” and “Buddy Holly.”

Green Day closed out the show. Green Day is also a California group, but from East Bay (San Francisco). Last year marked 30 years since their first album 39/Smooth. Since forming nearly 35 years ago Green Day has been Billie Joe Armstrong (Guitar/ Lead Vocals) and Mike Dirnt (Bass/ Backing Vocals) with Tre Cool (Drums) joining in 1990. Dirnt replaced original bassist Sean Hughes, however all three members have been on all 13 of their studio albums. When the 90's began Green Day was at the forefront of bringing Punk back to the mainstream and creating a new era of Punk music and fans. Their touring band consists of Jason Freese (Keys/Sax), Jason White (Guitar), and Kevin Preston (Guitar).

Opposite of Weezer, Green Day had a much more simple stage set-up. Before Weezer took the stage two intro songs played, the first being Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” which was a massive sing-along followed by the Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop.”Green Day kicked off their set with the title track from their groundbreaking album American Idiot which has had its own broadway show of the same name since 2009. In total they played six songs off American Idiot. Green Day’s latest release Father of All Motherf*ckers came out February 7th, 2020.

In total, Green Day performed 21 songs with many hits like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Basket Case,” and “Wake Me Up When September Ends.” Green Day also covered Kiss “Rock N’ Roll All Night,” and Operation Ivy’s “Knowledge,” in which Armstrong brought up a young female guitarist to perform with the group following with a stage dive back to the crowd. One word to describe a Green Day show would be rocks. Everything about the show was fantastic and it’s a real Punk Rock show.