On April 1, the legendary rock band Green Day rolled into St. Paul, Minn. to their sold out show at the Excel Energy Center. The band was touring their new album “Revolution Radio,” which since its release has been a commercial success.

Over the course of the tour, Green Day has had many bands open up for them, but for this show they had Against Me! open up for them. Against Me! is known for their punk sound and political message after the lead singer came out with gender dysphoria.

The band delivered an incredible 30 minute set with all of their hits. Before their last song, lead singer, Laura Jane Grace, said that her first concert was a Green Day concert and from that day forward all she wanted to do is start a punk band. I would say it paid off.

Then, the background music got concert level loud. Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” started playing. The lights stayed on but the whole crowd started singing to it and the lights started going on the stage.

After it was over, The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” came on and the Green Day Rabbit came out and started to get the crowd pumped. Suddenly, the Rabbit fell down and the lights went out. Green Day took the stage.

Once the band was out there and the drums started, front man, Billy Joe Armstrong, ran onto the stage, the crowd erupted. They then went straight into their opener “Know Your Enemy.”

Needless to say it was a strong opener with a lot of energy and explosions.

After that, they went into their new single “Bang Bang” that had way more energy than “Know Your Enemy.” It probably would have been a way better opener.

The third song was “Revolution Radio” and that’s when they dropped the black curtain to reveal a huge banner of their latest album “Revolution Radio.” The crowd went nuts.

They went even more insane after that song and Green Day started playing “Holiday.” The first actual classic of the night. Armstrong changed the lyrics to get the crowd into by saying “The Representative from Minnesota has the floor.”

The entire show was incredible with high energy all the way through. The softest song in the set was “Boulevard of Broken Dreams.” The band also played songs such as “Basket Case” “St. Jimmy,” “Burnout” and “Still Breathing.”

They closed with the album closer of “Revolution Radio,” “Forever Now.” It was my favorite song of the night. The fireworks were going off throughout the seven minute song and the band made sure people were into it.

For the encore the band came out of the dark and started playing “American Idiot.” The moshing down below went ballistic. After that they “closed” the encore with “Jesus of Suburbia.” The amount of people who knew the words to the nine minute songs was intense and incredible to hear.

When everyone started leaving Armstrong came back out onto the stage with a guitar and sang “Ordinary World” and “Good Riddance.” The solo acoustic act was a perfect way to end a fantastic night of high-energy rock.

Cameron Campbell is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]