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Green Day’s Lyric Changes During Coachella Set the Internet Ablaze

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Billie Joe Armstrong is making Green Day’s political stances known. When the band took the stage at Coachella to close out Saturday’s performance, they made two lyric changes that directly referenced the current political climate.

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Armstrong didn’t waste any time in doing so, either. Green Day opened their set with “American Idiot.” It was during the performance of their 2004 hit track that frontman Armstrong opted to change things up.

When Armstrong got to the part of the song where he’s supposed to sing “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda,” he changed the lyric to, “I’m not a part of the MAGA agenda.”

Armstrong previously made the same lyric change during a 2023 show. Donald Trump ally Elon Musk wasn’t a fan of the change at the time. He fired back on X, writing, “Green Day goes from raging against the machine to milquetoastedly raging for it.”

Later, Green Day bassist Mike Dirnt spoke out about Musk’s tweet.

“Elon Musk actually is the machine. I can’t take anything else from that. He’s not shy about saying stupid shit on the internet,” he told Rolling Stone. “Whatever. The song’s twenty years old, and we’re Green Day. What did you expect?”

Then, during a performance earlier this year, the band targeted Musk directly by changing the original lyric to “I’m not a part of the Elon agenda.”

Since the band’s performance last night, fans online have been raving about Green Day’s creative and politically-charged performance.

Green Day’s Second Lyric Change at Coachella

Later during Green Day’s Coachella set, Armstrong made another notable change to a Green Day song.

During the band’s performance of “Jesus of Suburbia,” instead of singing “Runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimized,” Armstrong declared, “Running away from pain like the kids in Palestine.”

While the specific change is a new one for Green Day, the band has previously made updates to the 2004 song.

During a March performance, Armstrong took aim at Vice President JD Vance. He did so by singing, “Am I r*tarted or am I just JD Vance,” instead of the original lyric, “Am I retarded, or am I just overjoyed?”

At the same performance, he made another lyric change. While the track’s original lyric is “We are the kids of war and peace/ From Anaheim to the Middle East,” Armstrong instead sang, “We are the kids of war and peace/ From Ukraine to the Middle East.”

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Coachella

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