Yesterday I went to London with Tabby and Reece to see the Hella Mega tour, featuring Weezer, Fall Out Boy, and Green Day. Both Fall Out Boy and Green Day are amongst my favourite bands of all time, with American Idiot being one of the first albums that I bought. We drove down, to ensure we didn’t get stuck in London due to the train strike and trains ending earlier, and ended up parking in Hackney, about a nice forty minutes walk from the London Stadium.

We ended up getting there very early and got to walk around the outside of the stadium when it was very quiet, compared to later on. Then after heading off to Westfield to get some food, we came back and joined the queue to get in. As always there was a bit of confusion with which queue was for what, but it was a relatively painless experience. Then we got to our seats, which while close to the back had a fantastic view of the stage.

The opening act, Amyl and the Sniffers were brilliant. There was a lot of energy with their punchy songs that got the crowd going and a perfect way to start. I’m not that familiar with their music, even though I’ve seen them before, and quite enjoyed them both times. I’ll have to actually listen to their albums at some point. Following them the stage was changed over for Weezer. They came on with ‘Hash Pipe’, which I’ve never really thought much of, but I thought it sounded a hell of a lot better live. They went through some of the better known songs, with an awesome cover of Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’. During ‘Island in the Sun’ Rivers Cuomo’s guitar would work, but he made the best of it, awkwardly air guitaring while singing. They ended with ‘Buddy Holly’, which is just a great song. I’ve always kind of liked Weezer, but not been a massive fan, but I definitely appreciate them a lot more now.

Next up were Fall Out Boy, which are one of my favourite bands. Their set was big on the hits, without any new songs. It’s been five years since their last album, Mania, and they only played one song from that, ‘The Last of the Real Ones’. They started with the epic ‘ The Phoenix’, and then dove straight into their older hits, before ending with ‘Thanks Fr Th Mmrs’ and ‘Saturday’, which they end most shows with. There was a video that introduced and ended the show, setting up a story. There was also an elaborate set-change half way through with a small house and fences brought on. It kind of felt a little weird and I don’t really get why they did it. The music was just fantastic though, with great song after great song. A great live act.

Then after a short break Green Day graced the stage. Their set started with a Queen’s ‘Bohmeian Rhapsody’ over the sound system, with the whole stadium singing together, followed by The Ramone’s ‘Blitzkrieg Bop’ as the drunken bunny got the crowd ready. After those songs played, Green Day ran out and jumped straight into their phenomenal ‘American Idiot’, followed by ‘Holiday’ and a wide range of classics from their discography. Billie Joe Armstrong is a stunning frontman, creating a great atmosphere throughout the crowd. Their set was just great song after great song, moving through most of the discography (although the most recent song was from 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown, with nothing from the five albums they’ve released then, not even a track from Father of All…, which was announced at the same time as this tour back in 2019).

The show took two years to actually happen, thanks to Covid, but it was definitely worth the wait. Each band was better than the last and it was a full afternoon of great songs and classics that I grew up with. A fantastic day, and one that will be hard to top.

Thanks for reading and until next time,

Ashley