The energy at Coachella had started to shift even before Green Day’s long-awaited headlining set on Saturday night. About an hour earlier, Charli XCX had sent the crowd into an all-out frenzy with a set that included surprise appearances from Lorde, Billie Eilish, and Troye Sivan. Then, before Clairo started playing at the Outdoor Theatre, Bernie Sanders came out and made a passionate political speech, urging festival-goers to fight for the country and avoid apathy.
All of that meant that by the time the California rockers took the stage, the crowd was completely fired up and ready to lose it. After a quick countdown, they dove headfirst into a high-voltage rendition of “American Idiot,” all while fans screamed along to every word. Led by frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, the rock outfit continued its tradition of changing the lyrics of the line “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda,” making it “I’m not part of the MAGA agenda,” adding a political undertone to the performance.
Save for a couple of moments, there were no political overtures or lengthy speeches. The band’s messages are embedded into the music already, and their main goal for the night seemed to be to get the audience rocking out as hard as humanly possible, especially because it was their first time at the festival (Armstrong had performed with the Replacements in 2014, and played with The Go-Gos on Friday.) They largely succeeded. When they launched into “Know Your Enemy,” Armstrong looked into the mass of screaming fans jumping up and down to the music. “I need a special guest right now,” he said, pointing to someone in the crowd. “I’m coming down right now.” Within seconds, he found a fan who knew the words and brought her onstage, where she sang along with him, a little stunned and teary.
The whole setlist unfolded like a career-spanning, best-of montage, packed with hits that crisscrossed the decades. There was “Brain Stew” and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” but one of the peaks of the performance came when Green Day kicked off a thrashing version of “Minority,” followed by “Basket Case” and “When I Come Around.” It was a back-to-back wallop that served as a reminder of the band’s longevity and staying power through the years.
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They briefly slowed things down by covering a few bars of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” as a mini-precursor to the weepy rock ballad “Wake Me Up When September Ends” from 2004. To make sure the energy didn’t dip too much, Armstrong leaped into “Jesus of Suburbia”n right after, eliciting a sing-a-long from the crowd. Armstrong added more political commentary into the set by tweaking a line from the track and singing “runnin’ away from pain like the kids from Palestine,” earning cheers from the audience.
During “Bobby Sox,” from the band’s most recent album Saviors, confetti rained down on the audience and Armstrong thanked the crowd repeatedly. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he shouted. “What an unbelievable night.” It seemed like the show would end there, but they had one more trick left: Armstrong called up a random dude from the audience who swore he could play guitar and had him play the classic “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life).” The guy delivered and played while Armstrong sang, closing the set on a poignant note. The band said goodbye and ended their debut with fireworks and pyrotechnics – all while the crowd kept cheering their name over and over.