In the waning days of the Nineties’ alt-rock revolution, just before major record labels turned forever away from left-of-center acts and toward more mainstream fare (coughBushcough) that forever made the world a duller place, Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins were two of the hottest young rock bands on the planet. And even though Green Day appealed more to punky skater types, and the Pumpkins fit in better with their sullen classmates on the other side of the detention hall, it wasn’t uncommon for teenagers in 1994 to have both Dookie and Siamese Dream in their CD changers. Those two albums sold by the millions and generated hit after hit.
Green Day and the Pumpkins went down extremely different paths over the past three decades, to put it mildly, but they’ve come together this summer on a stadium tour along with Rancid and the Linda Lindas . It’s a killer quadruple bill that brought generations of fans to New York’s Citi Field on Monday night. To make it extra special, Green Day are playing Dookie and American Idiot straight through to celebrate their 20th and 30th anniversaries.
Many younger fans arrived in fishnet stockings while their dads donned vintage Nimrod and Adore shirts, but everyone was there to celebrate the last incontestably great era of rock & roll. The show kicked off at 5:30 pm with the all-female punk group the Linda Lindas . They had the monumentally difficult task of playing in blinding daylight to a three-quarters empty stadium, but they won th.