The NFL is terrified of upsetting the apple cart, but decided to make the bold move to invite Green Day to be one of the performers on Sunday Bowl Sunday.
Green Day’s Super Bowl performance, explained
Green Day is playing the Super Bowl. What’s the worst that could happen?
Green Day is headlining the Super Bowl kickoff by being the official opening performance of the game. This will take place before teams enter the stadium, and the three big solo performances take center stage with Lift Every Voice and Sing, America the Beautiful, and the National Anthem being sung inside Levi’s Stadium.
The iconic 90’s punk band are a part of the kickoff show, along with LaRussell and Teddy Swims. Green Day should take the stage around 5 p.m. ET. The performance is likely to be televised on Peacock if not traditional NBC. It’s unclear how long their set will be at this time, or which songs the band will perform.
There’s a very good chance there’s one song we won’t see, which is American Idiot. Green Day’s iconic 2004 anthem was an overtly political protest song against George W. Bush and the Iraq war. In recent years the band has revived the song, notably changing the line “I’m not a part of a redneck agenda” to “I’m not a part of a MAGA agenda” during live performances, which the NFL would never allow in a million years.
Green Day was formed in Rodeo, California just 25 miles northeast of San Francisco, with the band being uniquely linked to the Bay Area. With the NFL normally seeking fun, inoffensive songs for games like the Super Bowl the odds are the band will be asked to avoid anything political — but this has backfired on organizers numerous times in the past.
Frontman Billy Joe Armstrong went rogue when Green Day performed at Oracle Park in 2024, shortly after the announcement the Oakland Athletics would be relocating to Las Vegas. Launching into a profanity-laden rant against A’s owner John Fisher, Armstrong said “We don’t take s*** from people like f***ing John Fisher … I hate Las Vegas.”
Armstrong again made waves in January of 2025, as the headliner of a music festival in Johannesburg, South Africa. The singer made numerous disparaging comments about Elon Musk, and changed the lyrics of American Idiot in his performance to say “I’m not a part of the Elon agenda.” Bassist Mike Dirnt told Rolling Stone, ”The song’s twenty years old, and we’re Green Day. What did you expect?“
So while the NFL might want Green Day to toe the line and be on their best behavior, there’s no way of controlling their punk roots.
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