Whether you like Green Day or have been calling them a sell out since the 90s (post-Dookie, of course), it doesn’t really matter because the band have done what they set out to do; continue making music.
This weekend, the trio will get the honor of being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Fall Out Boy doing the honors.
In honor of the momentous occasion, the group put on a huge pre-Rock and Roll Hal of Fame show at the House of Blues in Cleveland last night; their first U.S. show in two years.
The band also paid homage to their early start when the band’s name was Sweet Children and drummer Tre Cool wasn’t in the band.
For half of the show, Billie Joe Armstrong and Mike Dirnt welcomed back original drummer John Kiffmeye. They played a handful of Sweet Children’s songs including “Sweet Children,” “I Was There,” “Dry Ice,” and of course “Green Day.”
Once Sweet Children’s 11-song set wrapped, Green Day hit the stage, with Cool replacing Kiffmeye.
The Green Day set was 24-songs long and included several fan favorites like “Longview,” “Basket Case,” “”American Idiot” and several covers; a cover of Rancid’s “Radio” with Tim Armstrong performing alongside them and a cover of Operation Ivy’s “Knowledge.”
The Operation Ivy cover shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise since Green Day likes to cite them as one of their biggest influences.
They also did a major mash-up of “Shout,” “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” “Hey Jude,” and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” Another surprise from the setlist, came when Green Day performed “Private Ale,” a song that hasn’t seen the stage light since 1992.
Cool huh? And such a shame that we missed it live.
For now, we can watch the several fan shot videos from the event and pretend that we were there.
Sweet Children – “At the Library” w/ John Kiftmayer:
Sweet Children – “Green Day” w/ John Kiftmayer:
Knowledge” (Operation Ivy cover) / “Radio” (Rancid cover) w/ Tim Armstrong:
Fan shot video of the concert:
SETLIST:
Sweet Children Set:
“Don’t Leave Me” (First time live since 1994)
“Only of You”
“Sweet Children” (First time live since 1991)
“409 in Your Coffeemaker”
“At the Library”
“I Was There” (First time live since 1992)
“Disappearing Boy”
“Paper Lanterns”
“Road to Acceptance”
“Green Day” (First time live since 1990)
“Dry Ice” (First time live since 1993)
Green Day Set:
“99 Revolutions”
“Holiday”
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams”
“2000 Light Years Away”
“Private Ale” (First time live since 1992)
“Christie Road”
“Stuart and the Ave.”
“She”
“Geek Stink Breath”
“One for the Razorbacks”
“Burnout”
“Longview”
“When I Come Around”
“Basket Case”
“Are We the Waiting”
“St. Jimmy”
“Knowledge (Operation Ivy cover)” with Tim Armstrong
“Radio (Rancid cover)” with Tim Armstrong
“King for a Day”
“Shout / Always Look on the Bright Side of Life / Hey Jude / (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”
“Waiting”
“Minority” with Tim Armstrong
Encore:
“American Idiot”
“Jesus of Suburbia”
Talk Music To Me 