Green Day was back for a second helping of their power-punk bombast Saturday, and when frontman Billie Joe Armstrong told the Weekend 2 Coachella crowd early in the show that "The second night is always better than the first," he wasn't lying.
The band with a Northern California origin rocked Southern California just as hard, if not harder, than during Weekend 1, mixing in a few quirky surprises and slight alterations of the setlist.
From the show's first moments, it was clear this week would come with a little extra. As is customary in a Green Day show, a person in a bunny suit runs around on the stage, causing minor havoc before playfully being pulled off stage. That happened last Saturday, but this Saturday there was a twist: The person in the bunny suit revealed himself to be mercurial rapper Flavor Flav.
Flavor Flav makes cameo as band's signature bunny
Flav, who pulled off his rabbit head and unfurled his signature clock chain, got the crowd hyped, deftly altering his patented "When I say Flavor, you say Flav" to "When I say Green, you say Day." Flav has been a gadabout at this year's festival, sharing his penchant for goofiness with Yo Gabba Gabba! early in the day.
Coachella 2025: Here's the complete setlist for Green Day's Weekend 2 performance
From that odd jumping-off point, Green Day did exactly what they did in Week 1, not giving the crowd a chance to settle in before rattling off bangers such as "American Idiot," "Holiday," "Know Your Enemy," and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."
There were subtle differences for Weekend 2, but the band didn't deviate from their successful Week 1 formula. The pyrotechnics were well-timed and prevalent. The bass guitar play of Mike Dirnt had the crowd turnt (I'm sure others have made that rhyme, but that's OK.) And Tre Cool has to be one of the most incredible drummers around. As a former auxiliary percussionist in my high school band, I have no idea how he seems to drum in double-time so effortlessly.
In another twist, they played "Knowledge," a cover of a song by Operation Ivy, a rocker they did not play last week.
They also played John Mellencamp's "Jack and Diane" as a lead-in to their heartstring-tugging hit "Wake Me Up When September Ends."
Billie Joe Armstrong appears to have the time of his life
Armstrong got a touch more political this week than last week. Again, he changed the lyrics to "American Idiot" to say "I'm not part of the MAGA agenda." But this time he took it a little further later in the set, telling the crowd, "Don't let these political bastards get you down. We don't stand for fascism."
His strongest rebuke of the night was for the vice president. He changed the lyrics in his song "Jesus of Suburbia" from "Am I (stupid) or am I just overjoyed?" to "Am I (stupid) or am I just J.D. Vance?" It's something he's said at previous shows but not during Weekend 1.
Like last week, his only special guests were people he pulled out from the crowd, one to help him sing "Know Your Enemy" and one to play the guitar during "Knowledge." The headline of that moment was that the woman got to keep the guitar.
It was a career-spanning set as Armstrong and company went back to their "Dookie" era with classics such as "Basket Case," "When I Come Around," "Longview," and "Welcome to Paradise."
The set ended with an emotional sing-along to "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)." The band gathered together at the front of the stage and had a meaningful moment as they hugged and looked out at the crowd, while residual fireworks smoke wafted around them.
Was that tear welling up in Armstrong's eye from the moment or the smoke? That's what's great about Green Day. They are one of those bands with that special ability to make you care about what they are doing because it's clear they care about what they're doing.
Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.
