With time on his hands between his two weekends of headlining Coachella this year, Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong took to the stage of the considerably smaller venue of Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, California alongside musicians in Green Day’s orbit to play a set under the name The Coverups. In keeping with their name, the set was made up of nothing but covers. The show took place on April 17th, with Green Day’s Coachella sets coming on April 12th and 19th.
Playing the outdoor stage at the club for an audience of approximately 1,000, the band (made up of Armstrong, Green Day touring guitarist Jason White, audio engineer Chris Dugan and Bill Schneider on bass) opened the show with The Plimbsouls “A Million Miles Away,” and ended the night with David Bowie‘s “All the Young Dudes.”
In between, the show included versions of “Talk Dirty to Me,” by Poison, “Crazy Train,” by Ozzy Osbourne and, for some reason, Led Zeppelin‘s “Whole Lotta Love”… three times. They also threw in Bryan Adams‘ “Summer of ’69,” and Motley Crue‘s “Live Wire.” Check out their take on “Crazy Train,” below, as well as fan-shot footage of the whole show, sans encores.
Being a side project, Coverups shows are intermittent affairs, the last two shows being in London in early 2024, which featured a surprise appearance by Courtney Love.
