Last week the boys from Berkeley known as the members of the beloved, world acclaimed punk rock band Green Day got a star on Hollywood Blvd. They invited fans out to celebrate the unveiling on May 1st in front of Amoeba Recod Store on Hollywood's own boulevard of broken dreams, Hollywood Blvd. After decades of Green Day giving us timeless tunes from rompus, angst fuled, misfit to society driven turned outspoken, political viewpoint, punk athems, it rocks to see these punks get a star. Unfortuntaely I wasn't able to make it to the big celebration but I did make it to the Green Day pop-up down the street from their star a couple days later.
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| Green Day Kerplunk Kandy Grape Slurpee at 7-11 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Punk Bunny is the name of Green Day's coffee company because even rockstars need a side-hustle these days.
I got to the 7-11 right across the street from where the pop-up about an hour after the pop-on opened at noon on Sunday. There was about 10 people waiting by the two Slurpee dispensing machines because apparently the Green Day flavor was out and we needed it as our ticket in. A generous fellow customer randomly took it upon himself to pre-purchase 5 slurpees for the people waiting and I happened to be one of the 5 that got one of those. Soon enough I was on my way, Kerplunk Kandy Grape Slurpee in hand. I don't remember the last time I had slurpee. When I was a kid a loved a good Slush Puppie, the ice is chunkier and the syrup is different: thicker and probably more sugary and "bad for you". This one wasn't bad though, defintely sweet, not tart like a green grape so the Kerplunk Kandy Grape name is very fitting. And it's green...it is the Green Day Slurpee. The 7-11 was out of the branded Green Day Slurpee cups and there was only one size of Slurpee available which was definitely way more than I wanted. I drank about half of it while I waited in line with other Green Day fans. If it had been a warm day in LA and not the ucharcteristically overcast day that it was the slurpee would have been more enjoyable. I was just happy to be there.
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| Outside the Green Day pop-up on Holly Blvd 5/4/2025 photo by random Green Day fan |
Years ago a younger co-worker not so polietly pointed out the Gen X menatlity of it not being "cool" to wear the band shirt of the band that you're going to see as an outdated way of thinking.
"Oh your one of those" was the comment they made about it.
While this Xennial has yet to fully shake my "outdated way of thinking" and unable to shake the comment my co-worker made, I felt a little silly sporting my new Green Day Dookie shirt I recently got.
That quickly dispated though as more and more people getting in line for the pop-up were wearing Green Day shirts.
The pop-up itself was a little dispointing but again, I was just happy to be there. With a work schedule as busy as mine I miss out on doing a lot of things I want to do and concerts I want to see. I had just worked both weekends of Coachella, did I see any of Green Day's performace live? No I did not.
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| Green Day pop-up on Hollywood Blvd 5/4/2025 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
One wall of the pop-up was plastered with old pictures of the band and old flyers for shows which was fun to look at. Another wall was covered with shelves of vinyl records of which I was tickeled to see Master, the early first EP from Yeah Yeah Yeahs that is so much more punk sounding than anything they've ever done since, right next to Dookie itself (the album!).
There was a huge Slurpee dispensing machine that looked like a slurpee in a Green Day Slurpee cup which staff was handing out small samples from. This was silly to me because everyone there had to have bought a Slurpee to be there. They were still handing out small 7-eleven patches, Green Day slurpee patches and Punk Bunny Slurpee baseball hats but all of the t-shirts had already been given away. It wasn't even 2:00pm by the time I got inside and all giveways were as supplies lasted with the pop-up hours being from 12:00pm-6:00pm.
After the pop-up I took a stroll to Amoeba an there it was, the Green Day star on the walk of fame. How fucking cool is that?! I grew up in the Bay Area and I grew up listening to Green Day so I think it's very cool or as the French would say, tre cool. I can remember me and my cousins waiting for the debut of the "Welcome to Paradise" music video to air on MTV on a tiny TV in my cousin's kitchen. It's safe to say I was an instant fan and have been ever since.
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| Green Day star on Hollywood Walk of Fame 5/4/2025 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
In 2023 when I saw that they were re-issuing Dookie on light-blue vinyl for the 30th Anniversary I jumped on it! It is one of my favorite records to spin.
Though I didn't get a chance to break away and see any of Green Day's headlining performace when I worked Coachella this year, I did get to see them at one of their Saviors Tour shows last year.
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| Green Day at Oracle Park in SF 9/20/2025 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
It wasn't just any Green Day show either. It was the Dookie 30 Year Anniversary, the American Idiot 20 Year Anniversary and it was at Oracle Park in SF. The same park (maybe a different name back then) me & one of my best friends, Becky handed out Green Day American Idiot/LIVE105 stickers out to people as they left the American Idiot Tour show there twenty years ago when we worked on the LIVE105 street team together. There we were, twenty years later, at the Green Day Saviors show at Oracle Park where she now works. I cannot discribe how full my heart was at this show, it felt as though it would burst.
The boys from Berkeley played "Dookie" first, cover to cover and it was just...so good. The park was packed and everyone was loving it: on the field, in the suites, up in the nosebleeds, you could feel the good vibes in the air! The stage design blew my mind. Inflatables covered the stage to recreate the Dookie album cover art and it was flawless! Billie, Mike and Tre have always put on a great show fully of energy that always comes across sincere everytime I've seen them anyway. It was no different when they rocked the stage on September 20th, 2024. These dudes are getting old, just like the rest of us and they're still delivering, still playing for hours, still jump kicking around and that is no small feat!
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| Green Day at Oracle Park in SF 9/20/2025 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
After playing Dookie cover to cover they did an antic they've been doing for years which is pluck a fan from the crowd to sing a sing with them on stage. Ashley was the lucky fan that night and "Know Your Enemy" was the song. They played a few tracks not found on either of the anniversary albums they were on tour for before moving on to play American Idiot.
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| Green Day at Oracle Park in SF 9/20/2025 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Of course Billie had a lot to say about Trump and MAGA but he also had a lot to say about the Oakland A's being relocated to Las Vegas and his major displeasement with the team's owner, John Fisher.
The whole show was so good. One of my favorite parts is when everyone left the stage and Tre Cool came out in a silky leopard print robe and preformed one of my all time Green Day favorites, "All By Myself" all by himself.
My favorite part of seeing Green Day in 2024 was seeing them with Becky. We both love Green Day and have for forever. We're both so busy now in our adult lives that being able to go tot this show together was a real treat, one I will cherish for forever.
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| Green Day at Oracle Park in SF 9/20/2025 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
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