Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer Celebrate the Return to Rock With a Killer Show – Review of the Hella Mega Tour at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida

What a long, strange road its been, huh? This past year and a half was hardly easy on anyone, but the music industry took an especially big hit because of the pandemic. Bands haven’t been able to play for real crowds for upwards of 20 months, and you can tell it started taking a toll on some of them. Thankfully, this past Sunday marked a fantastic “Return to Form” for rock shows, with the first big rock n’ roll event since the start of our little “forced break”. Green Day, Fall Out Boy, Weezer and The Interrupters took over the enormous Hard Rock Stadium (which normally houses Florida Dolphin games) for a much needed evening filled with music.

The Interrupters took to the stage first, starting off the evening with some old school ska punk. I was really glad to see that even though they had a very early run time, there were quite a few people that showed up early to see them. The Interrupters are one of my favorite new bands, and fans of stuff like Rancid and No Doubt should definitely check them out! Aimee Interrupter kicked off the set by starting with some of their most well known songs “A Friend Like Me” and “She Got Arrested“, and even threw in a Billie Eillish cover of “Bad Guy” that the crowd really enjoyed (every opening band needs a good cover to get the crowd going!) The band consists of Aimee and the three Bivona brothers, and its good to see that the break from playing that they endured didn’t slow their speed one bit because the group sounded very tight and rehearsed. After finishing the set with “She’s Kerosene“, the group departed from the stage and Weezer’s tech’s began to load their gear onto the stage.

Even though The Interrupters didn’t have a lot of gear, the stage they played looked very “busy”….and once Weezer’s crew began to take the covers off their stage equipment, it was clear why. Weezer brought out an incredible setup, consisting of rows of multi colored Marshall amps and giant “Weezer” lightning bolts ascending into the ceiling, flanked by an enormous LED screen. Frontman Rivers Cuomo emerged onto the stage along with the rest of the group, fully channeling the 80’s by wearing a high school gym outfit complete with mullet and ‘stashe combo and rocking a sweet blue crackle Jackson Rhoads V.

Starting off the night with new songs “Hero” and “All the Good Ones“, the band played a variety of songs from their enormous 15 album catalogue. But the band knew what the crowd wanted to hear, and hits like “Hash Pipe“, “Beverly Hills“, “My Name Is Jonas“, “Undone – The Sweater Song” and even their cover of Toto’s “Africa” made an appearance to much acclaim. They finished off their time on stage with arguably their most famous songs, “Say It Ain’t So” and “Buddy Holly“, and the wait for Fall Out Boy began.

The stage setup for Fall Out Boy wasn’t quite as large as for Weezer but was still incredibly intricate, with multi-colored frames surrounding the LED screen giving it a very “forest-y” vibe. As the lights dimmed, Ron Livingston (of Office Space fame) appeared on the screen in a little intro, and the band began to assemble on to the stage. Kicking off their set with “The Phoenix” and their most famous song “Sugar, We’re Going Down“, Patrick Stump and the rest of the band began the night with a literal bang, as the “smaller setup” I mentioned earlier featured hidden pyrotechnics throughout the entire set.

Flanked by shooting flames and confetti cannons (and even a bass guitar flamethrower wielded by bassist Pete Wentz), the band powered through hits like “Dance, Dance“, “This Ain’t A Scene (It’s an Arms Race)” and “Thnks fr th Mmrs” before finishing their set with their most recent hit “Centuries” and early deep cut “Saturday“.

After Fall Out Boy departed (and after a nice long break giving everyone time to refill their concessions), the lights dimmed once again and the main event finally began. Warming up the crowd with “Bohemian Rhapsody” (and a roadie dressed in a bunny costume that came out to rile everyone up), the lights finally dimmed for the final time and the giant LED screen in the back of the stage began to play various clips from Green Day’s long career, flashing their various logos throughout the years.

Billie Joe Armstrong, wearing his signature maroon jacket and glittery gold guitar, finally appeared onto the stage to a screaming crowd and kicked off into “American Idiot” and “Holiday“, pulling no punches right from the start. Taking a very “Greatest Hits” approach to the setlist, they played pretty much ALL the classics that people wanted to hear from the old albums, including “Welcome to Paradise“, “Brain Stew“, “Minority“, and “Basket Case“, even breaking out a couple of covers in the form of Kiss’s “Rock and Roll All Nite” and Operation Ivy’s “Knowledge“. Even a bit of late night rain could stop the show as the band delivered their encore in the form of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)“. It feels incredible for concerts to finally be back and I can’t wait for the next one!