Over ten years after their last appearance in Iowa, Green Day made their triumphant return to Des Moines’s Wells Fargo Arena on Monday night with their Revolution Radio world tour. What ensued was a two and a half hour, career-spanning 27 song set that somehow left thousands of screaming fans still wanting more. The East Bay punk trio catered to fans both new and old, playing six new songs from their latest album and the tour’s namesake, Revolution Radio, as well as throwing in older cuts dating all the way back to their last independent release from 1991, Kerplunk. The rest of the setlist relied heavily on American Idiot and Dookie, while still making room for songs from the majority of their other releases.
A few songs into their set, singer Billie Joe Armstrong took a break in the middle of “Holiday” to wrap himself in an Iowa state flag and declare that for that night, Green Day would be a band from Des Moines, Iowa. This was met with thunderous cheers and applause, before the band launched into more fan favorites from American Idiot, “Letterbomb” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, the latter of which resulted in a singalong so loud that Armstrong put down his microphone with a smile on his face and let the crowd take over.
This crowd involvement stayed consistent all night, as Billie Joe frequently engaged his audience with more singalongs, shooting the front rows with water guns, picking up and wearing a selection of hats and ties that were thrown on stage, and his signature “Heeeeey-oooo” call and response, among many others. Songs were consistently drawn out to allow for improvisation, stage banter, speeches, and the demand for the crowd to be as loud as humanly possible, with highlights being a 10+ minute rendition of the Nimrod classic “King for a Day” and a massive cover medley. By the time the band left the stage for their encore, four fans had even been pulled from the crowd to play either guitar or drums, sing, and stage dive. Between the band’s antics and their massive array of lights, pyrotechnics, and confetti cannons, everyone in the arena undoubtedly got their money’s worth.
Just as suspected, Green Day are still just as politically outspoken now as they were against against the Bush administration with the release of American Idiot. Although the band has stated that Revolution Radio is not a Trump album, Armstrong took moments throughout the show to address the current social and political climate. Most were speeches of unity, such as a declaration of “no racism, no sexism, no homophobia" and that it was a night about humanity for everyone to enjoy together, and that there was room for more people than just fat old men in suits with ties that are too long. Others expressed slightly more overt criticism, like the exclamation of “F**k Donald Trump” as an angry finish to “American Idiot.”
If Green Day lost any steam with their hiatus and last releases before Revolution Radio, they are certainly back on track and doing what they do best: putting on massive shows that will certainly draw fans back time and time again.
