Crowds descended on LeBreton Flats early and in huge numbers on Friday afternoon as Ottawa Bluesfest was set to kick off it’s final weekend. Green Day was set to make their return to Canada’s Capital city 16 years, to the day, since their last appearance in Ottawa at, then called, Scotiabank Place and they didn’t disappoint!
Due to the massive crowds and the fact that Green Day has been a bucket list show for me forever I didn’t stray very far from the RBC Stage. In all the years I’ve been covering Ottawa Bluesfest there have only been a few times where I’ve seen crowds that came anywhere close to what we saw on Friday night.
Among the acts that I would’ve liked to have seen included Ron Sexsmith and Dwayne Gretzky but when the simple task of getting food takes almost an hour (not complaining everyone has been working really hard to serve as many people as quickly as humanly possible) it was really difficult to get around the venue.
As I arrived at the venue, Montreal trio, Les Shirley, was about to wrap up on the RBC Stage. They were quickly setting the energy bar to high with their set and the crowd definitely loving every second of it. Unfortunately, due to my late arrival I didn’t hear near as much of their set as I had wanted to so I’ll have to add them to the list of acts to revisit in the future.
Up next on the RBC Stage was LA based group The Linda Lindas…all under the age of 25 these kids (Linda Linda 1, 2, 3 and 4) have really made a mark on the music scene over the last few years since their 2018 debut. The four of them brought a crazy amount of energy to their performance and easily kept the crowd pumped up for what was about to come!
Green Day took to the stage shortly after 9pm and what followed was one of the best rock shows I have ever seen. Before the band came out Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody was playing through the speakers which turned into a giant karaoke event with tens of thousands singing along…I’m sure people downtown could hear them.
The band came out and performed American Idiot with their latest anti-Trump twist “I’m not part of a MAGA agenda” before heading into “Holiday” during which the representative from Canada had the floor. For the third song, one lucky fan from the audience was invited onto the stage to help them perform “Know Your Enemy”…moments like this always stick out for me because that person’s life changed in that instant. The excitement on her face told the entire story and Billy Joe gave her every opportunity to take it all in. For that one song she was part of the band.
The set was filled with pyro, a rarity at Ottawa Bluesfest, and for almost 2 hours Green Day cranked out hit after hit and frequently raved about Canada and Canadians. The setlist included their biggest hits “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “Welcome to Paradise”, “Brain Stew”, “21 Guns”, “When I Come Around”, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” and, of course, “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” after which fireworks were set off above the stage.
Green Day brought it all and left it all on the stage, including the drum kit which Tré Cool pretty much destroyed near the end of the set. It was my first time seeing Green Day and man do I ever hope it’s not the last, that was easily one of the top 10 rock shows I’ve ever attended.
