Aug 29

Aug 29 Show Review: Hella Mega Tour Brings The Best of Rock To San Francisco

Jared Stossel

Music

Hella Mega Tour

Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer
w/ The Interrupters
Oracle Park
San Francisco, CA

August 27th, 2021

Photos and Review by Jared Stossel

I’ve had tickets for this show for two years, and this show had been postponed on three different occasions. When it actually happened, when I pulled up to Oracle Park in San Francisco, CA on a busy Friday evening, I was somewhat in disbelief. Not because of the lineup, not because of the excited crowd filtering into the stadium that’s been home to the San Francisco Giants for the last twenty-one years, but because a show of this scale was happening. There were people in masks, and you had to click through a notification on Ticketmaster that stated you were either vaccinated or had a negative COVID test before entering (even though vaccination cards were not required upon arrival) but for the first time in two years, it felt like the world was back to a semblance of normalcy. No more postponements, no cancellations, COVID be damned, the Hella Mega Tour was going to happen in the Bay Area. For the first time since 2020, it felt like people were finally getting a chance to let loose with three of the biggest rock bands of our time.

An ambitious lineup reminiscent of those 1980s “Monster of Rock” lineups that consisted of the biggest rock and heavy metal titans, the Hella Mega Tour (featuring Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer in a tri-headlining slot) made its highly anticipated stop in San Francisco, CA. The show, which was originally set to take place in July of 2020, ended up starting at 5:30 PM. This seems a bit early, but we had a lot of ground to cover, so the earlier start time made sense. The tour brought out one official opener, LA-based ska-punk outfit The Interrupters, who immediately won over the crowd. The stadium was barely filling up with people, but everyone was into it. For thirty minutes, The Interrupters brought the world back into a sense of normalcy with a slew of upbeat ska and punk-infused tracks, an ideal warm-up set for a night like this.

The first of the three headliners to take the stage was Weezer. Rivers Cuomo, sporting a mullet, blue-and-yellow nail polish, and an electrified Jackson guitar, took command of the crowd as the band made their way through a “greatest hits” setlist pulling from the old (“My Name Is Jonas”, “Hash Pipe”, “Pork And Beans”), the new (“The End of the Game”, “All My Favorite Songs”, “Feels Like Summer”) and everything in between (their incredibly popular cover of Toto’s “Africa” was front and center). A highlight moment of Weezer’s set: the appearance of “El Scorcho”, a track from the Pinkerton album, an album that Cuomo has stated his dislike of many times over the years. But it felt like a necessity for the band to pull this one out; the lyric “I asked you to go to the Green Day concert” inspired an unforgettable moment of happiness throughout the crowd.

About a half-hour after Weezer closed out their set with “Buddy Holly”, Chicago’s Fall Out Boy took the spotlight for a pyro-filled, theatrically-infused hour long performance that pulled songs from all seven of their studio albums. The stage was covered in fire throughout the pop-punk quartet’s opening number “The Phoenix”; bassist Pete Wentz actually enhanced his white Fender Precision bass with a flamethrower on the neck (a la Nikki Sixx). The band played into the “rock star” mentality, utilizing every stage effect possible as they brought their song catalogue to life. Drummer Andy Hurley took his seat behind an elevated second drum kit, brought out halfway through the set for From Under The Cork Tree favorites “Dance Dance” and “A Little Less Sixteen Candles, a Little More ‘Touch Me’”, before it was carted off stage, never to be seen again for the rest of the night. Patrick Stump played “Save Rock and Roll” and “The Last of the Real Ones” on a piano that was literally on fire. It’s not quite at the Spinal Tap level of “rock star” (Stonehenge did not make an appearance), but the spirit of it was there, making for an incredibly enthralling stage performance.

I’ve said this often over the years, but there really is nothing out there like a Green Day show in the Bay Area. There’s always a palpable energy lingering in the air when the Oakland-based three-piece take the stage for hometown shows. I know people who have seen Green Day in other states (even other countries) and nothing quite compares to seeing them in the Bay Area. Just like they did back in 2005 when they headlined the very same ballpark, Green Day launched headfirst into “American Idiot”. As the band vamped in the middle of the song’s bridge, Billie Joe Armstrong begged fans to put their phones away. “We’ve been stuck inside for over a year looking at our screens, let’s put the phones away,” he pleaded to a roar of agreement from the crowd. They kept things going over the course of their two-hour set, with tracks from American Idiot (“Holiday”, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, “St. Jimmy”), 21st Century Breakdown (“Know Your Enemy”, “21 Guns”), and Dookie (“Longview”, “Welcome To Paradise”, “When I Come Around”). They even threw in a cover of “Rock and Roll All Nite” by KISS, that went over much better than I had thought it would. The show closed with the rock opera-esque “Jesus of Suburbia”, one the best tracks from American Idiot, and the unforgettable “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)”. The moment that Armstrong strummed the final chord on his acoustic guitar, a cavalcade of fireworks engulfed the sky above the stadium.

It’s hard for me to pick a favorite set from this tour, and that’s not hyperbole; every single act on Hella Mega Tour was spectacular. If someone were to come up to me and ask, “Hey, which Fall Out Boy show should I have seen?”, “Which Weezer performance was the best?”, “Is there a Green Day set list that’s better than most?”, I would probably point them to this show. Each set was a summation of these artists’ best works and career highlights, all put together in one not-to-be-missed package that brought a rock show that fans will be talking about for years to come. The Hella Mega Tour, to put it simply, showcases the biggest and best in modern rock and roll.

Main Photo Credit: Jared Stossel

Green Day Set List
American Idiot
Holiday
Know Your Enemy
Pollyanna
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Longview
Welcome To Paradise
Hitchin’ A Ride
Rock and Roll All Nite (KISS cover)
Brain Stew
St. Jimmy
When I Come Around
21 Guns
Minority
Knowledge (Operation Ivy cover)
Basket Case
She
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Still Breathing
Jesus of Suburbia
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

Fall Out Boy Set List
The Phoenix
Sugar, We’re Goin’ Down
Irresistible
Uma Thurman
Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy
Save Rock and Roll
The Last of the Real Ones
Dance, Dance
A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More “Touch Me”
This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race
My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)
I Don’t Care
Thnks fr th Mmrs
Centuries
Saturday

Weezer Set List
Hero
Hash Pipe
All The Good Ones
Beverly Hills
The End of the Game
My Name Is Jonas
Pork and Beans
Feels Like Summer
All My Favorite Songs
Undone - The Sweater Song
Surf Wax America
El Scorcho
Island In the Sun
Africa (Toto cover)
California Snow
Say It Ain’t So
Buddy Holly