The rock band finally took to the stage at Coachella last night (April 12), headlining day two in front of the likes of Travis Scott, Charlie XCX and Sam Fender, making a bold lyric change in the process during ‘American Idiot’.
Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, lead vocalist and guitarist, hasn’t shied away from sharing his discontent with the Trump administration having made his feelings known last month while touring Australia.
But, he’s now done so on US soil, in his home state of California, with himself and bassist/backing vocalist Mike Dirnt hailing from Rodeo, an unincorporated community just under a half hour drive northeast of San Francisco.
While singing the group’s most famed song, which boasts of more than a billion streams on Spotify, Armstrong switched a line.
“Well, maybe I’m the f***ot, America / I’m not a part of a redneck agenda,” is how we all remember it.
But those in the audience at Coachella heard: “Well, maybe I’m the f***ot, America / I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.”
Green Day live at Coachella pic.twitter.com/D3QYYJtcXZ
— It Sounds Alternative (@itsoundsalt) April 13, 2025
Viewers over on Twitter were divided by Armstrong’s comments, with one person typing: “Sad. I used to like them. Just tools of the libs now.”
While a second added: “Tiresome. Why is he even still in the country? I thought they were leaving?”
Although others appreciated the politics, with one labeling their performance: “The best Coachella performances in years.”
Another typed: “This is a true punk who wants peace.”
Saturday night’s crowd also heard Green Day weigh into the war raging in the Middle East, while performing ‘Jesus of Suburbia’.
Again, Armstrong switched a line out.
The original goes: “I don’t feel any shame, I won’t apologize / When there ain’t nowhere you can go / Runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimized / Tales from another broken home.”
However, yesterday fans heard: “I don’t feel any shame, I won’t apologize / When there ain’t nowhere you can go / Runnin’ away from pain, like the kids from Palestine / Tales from another broken home.”
In the same song last month, Armstrong switched out a line to take aim at JD Vance after he had just berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in front of cameras at the Oval Office.
The original went: “Am I r*****ed, or am I just overjoyed?”
He tweaked it to go: “Am I r*****ed, or am I just JD Vance?”
It was met with both criticism and applaud, with one person tweeting: “Kudos for the anti-fascism, but not so much for the ableism.”
