Yes, it was a Wednesday. Yes, it was rainy. And yes — punk is still alive and well in Portland.
Green Day’s “Saviors” tour — the second show of the concert revival at Providence Park this year — brought the pounding-in-the-chest beats, punchy bass riffs and vocals that sounded straight out of the decades-old recordings, but better, on Sept. 25.
While lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong is purportedly sleeping for a few more days (don’t forget to wake him up come Oct. 1), the entire show was anything but a snooze.
The four-act performance kicked off with very soggy Linda Lindas and Rancid sets, and the downpour no doubt kept at least a few folks from their seats before Smashing Pumpkins took the stage.
Billy Corgan and his crew took advantage of a brief patch of blue skies to play a nearly nonstop set. By the time the Smashing Pumpkins lead singer got to his major hits (see: “Today” and “Bullet with Butterfly Wings”) the crowd was amped and ready for Corgan’s surprise — Deftone’s vocalist Chino Moreno popping out for a rendition of “Jellybelly.”