The Hella Mega Tour Ignites the Jacksonville Skies

After having to delay one of the most-anticipated tours of the past decade the day finally arrived as the Hella Mega Tour made its mark on the Sunshine State. An incredible lineup of not one, not two, but three of the most impactful bands of the past three decades made their way into Jacksonville’s TIAA Bank Stadium on Saturday night.

The Hella Mega Tour featuring Green Day, Fall Out Boy, and Weezer that was originally scheduled for last summer but postponed due to the pandemic, kicked off in Dallas last week and in total will be making stadium stops in 21 cities across North America, including Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Wrigley Field in Chicago, Citi Field in New York and Fenway Park in Boston. The Live Nation-produced tour will also feature the Interrupters as special guests.

Fresh off the release of their stadium-rock album Van Weezer and led by the seemingly ageless Rivers Cuomo, Weezer set the tone for the night with a highlight reel set backed by vibrant colors and a retro video game backdrop. Die-hard Weezer fans were surely fully satisfied as the iconic Los Angeles rockers owned the stage strumming not only their hits like “Beverly Hills,” “Undone-The Sweater Song,” and the iconic Toto-cover “Africa.” The set also included fan favorites like “El Scorcho” “Surf Wax America” and the Guitar Hero banger “My Name is Jonas”. Wrapping up with the band’s most iconic single “Buddy Holly” was a no-brainer and left the fans not only as hyped as ever for a Weezer show but also with a beautiful mess of confetti to clean up as the band exited with thousands of hands forming the iconic double-finger “W” waving in the air.

Between the stage’s three screens a welcomed appearance by Office Space actor Ron Livingston walked the crowd through an eccentric hype-video crescendoing into the flame-fueled arrival of the iconic pop-punk turned pop-rock band Fall Out Boy. With a flamethrower on the head of his bass, Pete Wentz let the crowd know early and often that this was not just another show. This was Hella Mega and you were going to remember it.

Led by the undeniable vocals of Patrick Stumph, Fall Out Boy played through a fine-tuned balance of their most impactful tracks over the past twenty years. Grabbing the crowd early with “Sugar, We’re Going Down” was unexpectedly brilliant as it dialed up the crowd’s energy throughout the entirety of the set. The band emphatically delved into their roots playing early hits “Grand Theft Autumn” and even closed with the pure pop-punk track “Saturday” behind undeniable energy that ignited the band through their early days and has kept their flame hot for the better part of two decades.

Fall Out Boy (in fitting fashion for the band to follow) raged through their set in front of a Broadway-inspired backdrop, even bringing out a modest one-story home for drummer Andy Hurley to blast away while set atop the roof. A candid moment between Wentz and the crowd, full of gratefulness to be back on stage and pleading with the crowd to leave the bad vibes outside the stadium served as a potent and heartfelt connection between rockstar and fan. As the daylight faded, the fire raged on, Fall Out Boy exited, and phone lights filled the stadium one by one, thousand by thousand, in anticipation of the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Famers to make their way to the stage.

After crowd-driven renditions of “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “Blitzkrieg Bop” filled the stadium air, fans were gifted with a crash course on the history of Green Day compliments of an entrance video that was nothing short of legendary. Amplified via the iconic horns of Richard Strauss, anticipation grew amongst fans at TIAA Bank Stadium as they surely grasped the rock’n’roll extravaganza they were about to experience. This is rock n roll. This HAS been rock n roll. This is Green Day.

All eyes fixated on the dark stage, as a larger-than-life Billie Joe Armstrong emerged and stood in front of 30,000 Floridians and raged right into what was once Green Day’s earth-shattering comeback track “American Idiot”. With longevity running back to the late 80s this Hall of Fame trio has amassed thirteen studio albums and promptly chose to tap into almost all of them for the better part of two hours on this Saturday night. Commanding crowds to let go of all we have built up over the past year was a common theme during spirited hits like “Know Your Enemy” as was taking the time to soak in a stadium lit by phone light during chart-smashing hits “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” and “21 Guns”.

Bassist Mike Dirnt fueled the stadium with his quintessential Green Day energy throughout the night, bouncing along during his intro solo to the band’s breakthrough single “Longview” is a bucket list experience for any concertgoer, no matter the genre. Dirnt’s presence is undeniably felt during the mega-hit “When I Come Around,” however, with a quick prefacing-shoutout courtesy of Billie Joe, it’s the concise break-off turned bass solo during the Broadway-destined anthem “Jesus of Suburbia” that sends Green Day fans into a frenzy every time.

Perhaps it’s the bass lines or Billie Joe’s iconic hooks and angst that have fueled the band’s success, but when you have a drummer like Tre’ Cool serving as your heartbeat for thirty years, every one of these songs brings the same exact punch as the first time you heard it. An energized Armstrong introduced Tre’ to a roaring crowd, shouting “Ladies and Gentlemen, the world’s best drummer”, a worthy statement when you take into account the band’s undeniable success and Tre’s apparent refusal to lose any sort of skill notably during fills he wrote in his early 20s.

As Green Day fans know, when Billie Joe brings out his signature Fender, “Blue”, the roots of what made fans fall in love with pop-punk are soon to resurface. Running through Dookie-era gems “Basketcase” and “Welcome to Paradise” was no surprise, as no matter how far Father Time trods along these songs only become more and more iconic. However, the muted riff of “Hitchin’ a Ride” and its’ subsequent five-minute crowd interaction was one of the unexpected highlights of the night as was the transition from “Brainstew” into the mosh-inducing smash “St. Jimmy” behind an infinite amount of strobe, pyro, and Green Day’s iconic fist-in-the-air graphic work.

The Oakland rockers blasted crowds with unforgettable imagery, giving each song its own distinct feel the abundance of gold during the powerful “Wake Me Up When September Ends”, the bombs away attitude of “Holiday”, and the Fourth of July that was the band’s closing track “Good Riddance”. These were only some of the highlights that will forever be engrained in the memories of those in attendance. Fans left the stadium as sweaty as they were satisfied, walking to the exits surrounded by a myriad of echoing happiness among concertgoers and among an ambiance of what felt like relief-that no matter what was going on outside that stadium, at least got to feel like we were back to normal for a few hours.