The punk-rock group Green Day performed during NHL’s All Star Weekend game in St. Louis over the weekend amid their recently-announced partnership with the league, but fans who traveled hours to the gig were unaware that the billed concert was only supposed to be a brief set.
The outdoor gig, which was free and open to the public before max capacity was reached, took place on the block of 14th street downtown between Market Street and Clark Avenue. According to STLToday, the NHL estimated the crowd at 15,000 before Green Day took the stage at 5:20 p.m. The group came out singing their smash-hit “Know Your Enemy” from 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown and followed with “Bang Bang,” their successful hit from 2016’s Revolution Radio.
“Fire, Ready, Aim” came next, which has been a track geared toward the NHL and serves as the opening theme for NBCSN’s “Wednesday Night Hockey.” Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told the crowd that the band needed to redo the song, to bring the energy up a notch, for a broadcast performance of the song. Then, after the crowd was energized, the band quickly left the stage, noting that they’ll see the crowd in the summer time on their Hella Mega Tour.
Fans waited to see if Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool would return to the stage, but they didn’t. Those in attendance were confused and disappointed that the show was cut so short, especially since some fans had begun lining up as early as 7 a.m. and traveled for hours just to see the show. It seems that the performance was just that – a performance – and not actually a full concert.
I think St. Louis was just punk’d by @GreenDay . Brutal 👎
— Scott Clemenson (@ScottClemenson) January 26, 2020
So I see now that, clearly Green Day only meant for the “outside concert “ as a promo thing. However by St. Louis and the NHL it was advertised as a free concert to get a shit ton of people to come. Still shitty and I wish Green Day would apologize for the miscommunication
— Ashley🤎 (@ashleyh994) January 26, 2020
14th and Market St in St Louis just become the Boulevard of Broken Dreams and I am an American Idot for going.@GreenDay #disappointedgreendayfan
— Valerie Hublall (@vhublall) January 26, 2020
Does anyone know what happened at the @GreenDay concert in St. Louis? It seemed like there were problems behind the scenes that cause them to cut their concert short. #GreenDay #stl #AllStar2020 #AllStarGame #freeconcert #downtownstl
— Arianna🧚🏻♀️ (@Hippie_kitty_13) January 26, 2020
Perhaps you should have billed the Green Day outdoor concert as “Green Day will come over and play a couple of songs“ and not as a concert. Lots of people got there early, paid for the parking, it’s January in St. Louis yada yada @StLouisBlues @NHL
— Danielle (@Dog_flower1) January 26, 2020
I feel like the only way @GreenDay could make up for that performance is actually put St. Louis on their tour.
— Hannah (@HannuhhMaix) January 26, 2020
Following the short set, Green Day performed a second intermission performance on the ice inside the Enterprise Center during the All Star Game. They played “Fire, Ready, Aim” again, as well as classics “Basket Case” and “American Idiot.” The partnership with the NHL will last for two seasons through 2021, incorporating the Grammy Award winner’s songs through arena playlists and highlight packages.
While Armstrong told the crowd he’d see them in the summer, the Hella Mega Tour doesn’t actually make a stop in St. Louis. The iconic punk-rock tour, which will also feature Weezer and Fall Out Boy, kicks-off in North America this July in Seattle. They’ll appear in cities like Houston, Minneapolis, Chicago, Detroit, New York City and Boston before wrapping-up in Philadelphia late August. See the dates here. Green Day’s 13th studio album, Father Of All…, is due February 17.
