Green Day and host Jimmy Fallon during Subway Busking on Thursday, January 18, 2024. Todd Owyoung/NBC
Anything can happen in New York City — even a surprise serenade by punk rockers Green Day during a post-work commute.
During the Thursday, January 18, episode of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Green Day members Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tré Cool joined host Jimmy Fallon to busk at the 47-50th Street subway station near Rockefeller Plaza. The four all dressed up for the occasion: Armstrong, 51, donned a blonde wig and matching mustache; Dirnt, 51, sported a long brunette wig and sunglasses, looking like he walked out of Laurel Canyon in the 1970s; Cool, 51, wore glasses and a beatnik goatee; and Fallon, 49, looked like a hippie in a beard and wig.
The quartet started the set with Bad Company’s “Feel Like Making Love” as people gathered to watch. But the ruse was quickly up, with all four men ditching their costumes before launching into Green Day’s “Basket Case.” Along with covering Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite,” the band played “Look Ma, No Brains!” and “Dilemma” from their new album, Saviors, and ended the set with a performance of their hit “American Idiot.”
During the final song, both Armstrong and the gathered crowd sang the updated lyrics — switching out “Redneck agenda” for “MAGA Agenda” — just like Green Day did during their performance on Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve last month.
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The not-so-secret subway performance took place on Tuesday, January 16. Word about the band’s gig made waves on social media, and fans tried to make it to the station in time to see the show. Fallon finally aired the footage on the eve of Saviors’ release.
In Us Weekly’s eyes, Green Day’s latest record is “one of [their] best” albums in years. “It’s fast-paced, irreverent and, most of all, fun. The band accomplished this aesthetic comeback by embracing their strengths: making catchy rock songs about being in love, screwing up but getting by and having fun while the world burns,” reads Us’ early review. The group “excavated elements of their past and successfully married them to their present.”
Green Day will embark on The Saviors Tour over the summer, playing their classic albums, Dookie and American Idiot, in their entirety while celebrating their new LP. The tour kicks off its North American leg on July 29 at Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park.
Green Day and host Jimmy Fallon during Subway Busking on Thursday, January 18, 2024. Todd Owyoung/NBC
Rancid, The Smashing Pumpkins and The Linda Lindas will join Green Day for the tour, with The Hives, The Interrupters, Donots, Maid of Ace and Nothing But Thieves performing on select dates.
