Green Day takes a swipe at Elon Musk during Joburg show
Green Day made an interesting lyric change while performing their hit song 'American Idiot'.
Green Day made a big splash during their debut in South Africa at the weekend. The band fired major shots at South African-born billionaire Elon Musk.
The American band performed at the Calabash 2025 South Africa event at FNB Stadium in Johannesburg. Green Day, The Offspring and Fokofpolisiekar proved that punk is not dead at Sunday's show.
In true punk style, Green Day showed off the band's rebellious side. They performed several of their hit songs, including 2004's, 'American Idiot'.
Frontman Billie Joe Armstrong decided to make an interesting change to one of the song's famous lyrics. Instead of singing, “I’m not a part of the redneck agenda,” he sang, "I’m not a part of an Elon agenda."
Billie Joe Armstrong changes the lyrics to call out Elon Musk: ‘I’m not a part of an Elon agenda’ 🔥🎤 - Green Day live at Calabash, South Africa #greenday #elonmusk #billiejoearmstrong @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/Ove9vEmSVn
— Green Day Italy (@GreenDayItaly_) January 20, 2025
Musk has been heavily involved in politics in recent years, and most recently supported Donald Trump's successful presidential campaign.
He is also set to take up an "efficiency" post in Trump's new administration.
Musk joined several tech billionaires at Trump's inauguration on Monday, January 20. Facebook founder and Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg attended with his wife Priscilla Chan.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez, who caused a stir with her inappropriate outfit, were also in attendance.
Politics aside, the Calabash crowd had a blast at the concert, with many calling it the best show they had ever been to.
"Best show I’ve ever seen. All 3 bands were absolutely phenomenal! Thank you Calabash for making this possible. I can now tick seeing Green Day live off of my bucket list," one woman wrote on Instagram.
Many also hoped Green Day would return to South Africa for a solo concert. "We had the best time! Please feel free to come back 🥹 We would love to have you again!"
Green Day also had an incredible time with their SA fans. "Thank you for an amazing show. It's our first time here, and we're on our way to Cape Town right now. See you there," Armstrong said in a video shared on Monday.
Fokofpolisiekar were also overwhelmed by the love the audience showed them, noting that by the end of their set there were 40,000+ people cheering them on.
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Main image credit: Instagram/@billiejoearmstrong