Billie Joe Armstrong, the lead singer of Green Day, just lambasted Las Vegas during a performance in San Francisco. The musician expressed strong discontentment at the relocation of the Oakland A’s and invited fans from the Bay Area to remain united.
Green Day Disagrees with the Relocation of the Oakland A’s
Armstrong gave his speech on Friday night during a concert at Oracle Park, a baseball stadium in San Francisco. As a long-time of the Oakland A’s, the singer expressed disagreement with the recent changes, appealing to the sentiments of the Oakland locals.
For context, billionaire John Fisher, the Oakland A’s owner, recently decided to build a new stadium on the Las Vegas Strip, effectively ditching the club’s decades-old traditions in the East Bay. This significant change was controversial on many levels as it required the demolition of the Tropicana, one of the most iconic properties on the Strip.
As for the Oakland A’s the team is set to play in Sacramento, California, for the next few years. Depending on how things unfold, the team might remain there instead of moving to Vegas. Some are increasingly skeptical of Fisher’s ability to actually find funding for his promised $1.5 billion stadium in Sin City.
Armstrong Critiques Fisher
Armstrong seemed less concerned about the fate of the Tropicana and more hellbent on expressing his displeasure with Fisher’s business decision. Before a crowd of tens of thousands of fans, the singer shouted:
We don’t take no shit from people like John fucking Fisher. I fucking hate Las Vegas! It’s the worst shithole in America!
Billie Joe Armstrong
Armstrong added that his band’s concert was about unity and bringing the people of the East Bay Area together. Despite just bashing Fisher and Vegas, he advised his fans to put the negativity behind for a bit, forget doom-scrolling for a while and enjoy Green Day’s music with the people they love.
The concert was a part of the Saviors tour, which coincidentally doesn’t include any stops in Las Vegas. The band has a mixed history with Sin City, which has included some great concerts but some bumpier performances too. In 2012, for example, Armstrong smashed his guitar and left the scene earlier after getting annoyed at a blinking sign that urged his band to wrap up its performance.
