Green Day Live at Soundwave 2014 / Photo: Yael Stempler

Green Day Honour Victims Of ‘Ghost Ship’ Warehouse Party Fire

December 12, 2016

This past weekend Green Day played a show at Oracle Arena in Oakland, where they took a few moments to acknowledge and pay tribute to the victims of the recent Oakland Ghost Ship tragedy.

As CBS reports, just before playing their song Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Billie Joe Armstrong stated:

“These are people that are just here looking for themselves, just trying to have a moment where they could all just celebrate just being artists and being weird and having fun. We have to cherish all the freaks and the weirdos. People need a place. They didn’t go to art school. They got kicked out of their parents’ house and they have nothing, but they find something in this sort of community where they weren’t accepted before. So it’s really important that these people have an affordable place to live.”

The band then went on to play their song American Idiot, which he specifically dedicated to the tragic event. He also made a heartfelt post on Instagram last week acknowledging the tragedy (below).

Armstrong also spoke about the tragedy in a recent radio interview on LIVE 105’s Not So Silent Night, where he spoke about the importance of the Oakland warehouse scene that nurtured him personally and creatively when he was growing up.

“We grew up in those warehouses in West Oakland when we were 18 years old, so we know what it’s like, that communal space with artists and activists… When you’re a weird kid and you’re an artist and you don’t fit in, you’re always looking for a place to be able to hang your hat and find like minded people. And Oakland was that for us and it is for a lot of people.”

Green Day are currently touring off the back of their latest album Revolution Radio and will be hitting Australian shores in April next year. Full details below.

Watch: Fan footage of Green Day’s Ghost Ship tribute in Oakland