Green Day will open the Super Bowl 2026

[solongfromthestars]

Yeah, I assume they wanted to do it because opening the Super Bowl in the Bay Area was meaningful to them, like it was meaningful to play the Oakland Coliseum.

[DookieLukie]

There is an odd angle to this of fans putting all this responsibility on Green Day to do a certain thing. Like others were saying, maybe this was a dream moment for them and they wanted to embrace it and make it a positive memory.

[Mollyluna]

I was on YT now to have a look at the performance and after the reddit shitstorm I expected the worst in the comment section. But on the contrary. Most of the comments are full of praise and actually see the choice of the songs as an act of protest. That’s surprising! And I like it.

And: quite a few people seem to have rediscovered them. One goal achieved.

[jengd]

I think people are losing sight of the fact that Green Day GREEN DAY played an opening show at the Super Bowl! That’s huge.  The video has over 1.5 m views already. Must have felt amazing to them.

[Winter321]

4 hours ago, Hermione said:

The only thing they have to lose is an amount of money that is nothing to them. 

I think it was a really huge amount of money tho. The NFL is known for crazy clauses in their contracts that highly constrict artists, and while Green Day are filthy rich, the NFL is just on entire different level, their net worth is over 7 billions, only a billionaire could realistically fight the NFL in a court case and win. 

Probably the clause for swear words was something they could afford, while the clause for political commentary was something they simply couldn’t. 

[Lindsay]

I've been thinking about this a lot more, and I truly believe one of the reasons they played it safe was to not rock the boat & not interfere with Bad Bunny's performance and what meaning he was trying to get across.

Bad Bunny's performance was all focused around unity & love and GD stirring the pot beforehand definitely would have taken away from that. I'm also confident it was to help protect Bad Bunny as it was fairly obvious he had a bulletproof vest on underneath his outfit.

So, I take back what I said earlier and I totally understand why they played it safe now. Happy for them that they got to open what was probably a dream for them.

[Hermione]

2 minutes ago, Winter321 said:

I think it was a really huge amount of money tho. The NFL is known for crazy clauses in their contracts that highly constrict artists, and while Green Day are filthy rich, the NFL is just on entire different level, their net worth is over 7 billions, only a billionaire could realistically fight the NFL in a court case and win. 

Probably the clause for swear words was something they could afford, while the clause for political commentary was something they simply couldn’t. 

Right but in that case don't sign it imo. It shouldn't go to the point of not even being able to play a popular radio hit in full

[Winter321]

38 minutes ago, Mollyluna said:

And near their hometown too. Maybe they just enjoyed it…?

What a crazy concept 😆🤯

2 minutes ago, Hermione said:

Right but in that case don't sign it imo. It shouldn't go to the point of not even being able to play a popular radio hit in full

But if you put it that way, what’s more important?

1) To get the message of American Idiot and everything they stand for for a broader audience, even if it’s not a complete “fuck you” message they usually come up with.

 

or 

2) Refuse to participate because they have to censor some of their stuff, therefore not get the message across broader audience at all.

 

I know they are still super popular and super relevant especially in the United States, and that they still can sell out standiums around the world, but they really aren’t that relevant in the grand scheme of things. We just think they are because we are in this Green Day fan bubble. But ordinary people do not care about them at all.

Today was the first time in I heard my work colleagues talking about Green Day and the message they sent, and how cool it was, and that their sole pressence pissed Trump off. And even with this, the conversation we had at work was mostly focus on Bad Bunny.

 

I understand your disappointment. I’m disappointed as well. I just don’t agree with this way of looking at things, and I think it’s much more nuanced.

 

[Little Boy Named Booze]

35 minutes ago, jengd said:

I think people are losing sight of the fact that Green Day GREEN DAY played an opening show at the Super Bowl! That’s huge.  The video has over 1.5 m views already. Must have felt amazing to them.

The video would be at 5 million if they had decided to make a statement.

Still disappointed by the fact that they said nothing. Performance was amazing. But it wasn't punk rock  

[Karol Oliveira]

32 minutes ago, Winter321 said:

What a crazy concept 😆🤯

But if you put it that way, what’s more important?

1) To get the message of American Idiot and everything they stand for for a broader audience, even if it’s not a complete “fuck you” message they usually come up with.

 

This. Besides the fact that they actually wanted to play it, playing on Superbowl gave them a tremendous amount of exposure. Millions of people heard the lyrics. Maybe it resonated with a lot of them, who will dig deeper on the band and AI album and see where the band stands (and I agree with @solongfromthestars that now would be a perfect time for them to use their social media accounts as a platform). Mostly all the reviews I've read mention what Billie said on that FanDuel gig and that he usually sings "I'm not a part of the MAGA agenda".

 

35 minutes ago, Lindsay said:

I've been thinking about this a lot more, and I truly believe one of the reasons they played it safe was to not rock the boat & not interfere with Bad Bunny's performance and what meaning he was trying to get across.

Bad Bunny's performance was all focused around unity & love and GD stirring the pot beforehand definitely would have taken away from that. I'm also confident it was to help protect Bad Bunny as it was fairly obvious he had a bulletproof vest on underneath his outfit.

So, I take back what I said earlier and I totally understand why they played it safe now. Happy for them that they got to open what was probably a dream for them.

This as well. It was the time to let a latino talk because latinos are one of the most targeted group in USA right now. Maybe they took the role of conscious white dudes and stepped aside.

Billie was also wearing a necklace of the Our Lady of Guadalupe which is the patroness of Latin America.

That said, I'm a bit disappointed as well, but I get it.

[That Dude]

It was a good time, whether Billie said something or not.   I heard that he did in fact say some things but it was edited out, is that true?

[Hermione]

At least Bad Bunny's performance was amazing and made a real statement. More punk than Green Day's 

[Winter321]

1 minute ago, That Dude said:

It was a good time, whether Billie said something or not.   I heard that he did in fact say some things but it was edited out, is that true?

Nah. His mic was muted twice for a split second during the performance, but he didn’t have time to say anything in that split second. 
 

They did censor the “Mindfuck America”

Just now, Hermione said:

At least Bad Bunny's performance was amazing and made a real statement. More punk than Green Day's 

I loved his performance even though I’m not a big fan of his music, but how was the statement more real? 

[AlissaGoesRAWR]

42 minutes ago, Mollyluna said:

Most of the comments are full of praise and actually see the choice of the songs as an act of protest. That’s surprising! And I like it.

I think sometimes we’re so deep in the weeds of fandom — and AI has been out and widely acclaimed for so long — that we forget these songs were fairly controversial when they debuted.

My parents wouldn’t buy me the album at first (I was 13). I went to a conservative Catholic school and I remember some people saying they were “anti-American British punk.”  

So it is kind of funny to hear that these songs aren’t a political performance now. 

[JardyOfSuburbia]

9 minutes ago, Hermione said:

At least Bad Bunny's performance was amazing and made a real statement. More punk than Green Day's 

Yeah, but Bad Bunny was also the halftime performer and had sets and more time. I do think there would've been more "statements" if Green Day had a proper time slot and was the halftime performance. 

[Little Boy Named Booze]

At least it's good to see Green Day going up in the chart. American Idiot is back at #186 wow. A song from 2004. 
The Superbowl really help them. I hope something is brewing for them. Bad Bunny deleted everything on his instagram right after his performance. That's what he do when a new album is coming soon.

Let's hope Green Day have something for us soon 😉

[Thatsername]

1 hour ago, Lindsay said:

I'm also confident it was to help protect Bad Bunny as it was fairly obvious he had a bulletproof vest on underneath his outfit.

I was actually pretty worried about our boys from Green Day too. Like Brian May recently said, the USA have become a very dangerous place for live shows these days 😞

[Winter321]

8 minutes ago, Thatsername said:

I was actually pretty worried about our boys from Green Day too. Like Brian May recently said, the USA have become a very dangerous place for live shows these days 😞

Off topic, but I really hope Brian sues the shit out of Trump for using Who Wants to Live Forever. Imagine THE Brian May having a conversation with Trump. It would look like Magnus Carlsen trying to play chess with a pigeon. 

[Mollyluna]

15 minutes ago, Thatsername said:

I was actually pretty worried about our boys from Green Day too. Like Brian May recently said, the USA have become a very dangerous place for live shows these days 😞

This! I didn’t want to write that before because I feared it might sound paranoid. But deep inside I was worried that something terrible could happen. Well, I‘m inclined to worry too much.😅 But still..

And to be honest, if they really had pissed off all those MAGAs I would worry now that some madman might go after Billie or the band or their families. 

[Montclare]

I still wish Billie had at least slapped a MN sticker on his guitar. Way to say something without saying it. He's worn the religious pendant a long time, so that's nothing special. As for what making a statement does, yeah, it doesn't change anyone's mind, but it makes people feel supported.

[Little Boy Named Booze]

6 minutes ago, Mollyluna said:

This! I didn’t want to write that before because I feared it might sound paranoid.

You're not paranoid. This country is so fucked up. I wouldn’t even be surprised if they’d signed a contract saying they’re not allowed to say this or that, otherwise there’s a sniper ready.

[Cris.]

I agree with @solongfromthestars, I think even if they had gone up there and just given a political rant for 6 minutes, nothing would have changed, except that we would be patting ourselves in the back for how anti-Trump/anti-ICE our favorite band is. Much less would anything happen because he sings "I'm not a part of the MAGA agenda". 

I don't see the incomplete songs as self-censorship @Hermione, I think they just tried to make a medley out of some of their most famous songs, that musically made sense, that would allow people to recognize the songs, and that highlighted the power of each song. (And I don't think choosing Holiday over Basket Case for instance, was an unintentional choice). It's not easy to pack a lot in under 5 minutes, to do it right, and to make it sound great. And I think we know how much more political the songs could have been if they had been played in their entirety, because we know those songs by heart and know what was left out. But if you forget about that for a second you realize that what was sung already packs a huge political message. Just like the mere fact that Green Day, with its well documented criticism of Trump and Republicans that came before him, is a political statement. 

I also don't see how Bad Bunny's set was more powerful? I think his set was great, but he had more time, budget, and staging. But his show was also a medley, none of the songs were sung in their entirety, the lyrics where the original lyrics and the rhythms were the ones from the original songs, a lot of the stage decorations were mimicking his album cover or music videos. He couldn't have sung anything in English because he doesn't have any songs in English. So there was nothing there that we hadn't heard or seen before. So what's the special political statement there? The only thing he said that I thought was quite powerful and that is not straight out of one of his songs (and most American folks seem to have missed it because they missed the keyword in Spanish) was when he said "god bless America" and started mentioning a bunch of countries, he actually said "god bless American, whether it is ("sea" in Spanish) Chile, Argentina...." and went off to list every single country in the whole continent. That was nice to see, since the US has basically appropriated "America" just for themselves. 

I think perhaps you feel Bad Bunny's set was way more political because you are not as familiar with his music, so having a salsa band playing or these type of things might seem like something extraordinary he hadn't done before? If that is the case, then for people not familiar with Green Day, hearing "don't wanna be an American Idiot" in the super bowl stage might have seemed just as punk. 

 

On the other hand, I also don't think that they played it safe not to draw attention from Bad Bunny. I just think they wanted to pack as much power in 5 minutes as they could, end of story. Bad Bunny is the biggest artist in the world right now, and has been a few times before in the last 6 years or so. I don't think there's a lot Green Day could have done that would have deflected the attention from Bad Bunny. 

 

As to "why bother if they're not gonna say anything": Because they are musicians. I guess playing at the Super Bowl, and so close to home, must have been super exciting opportunity for them, beyond how much money they would get or what political message they could send. Would someone here not take their dream job just because they cannot wear a "fuck ICE" shirt to work? So yes, maybe it was just to tick a career box, but what's wrong with that? If they were not career driven half of us would probably never heard of them. Probably only @Dingle and some bay area folks would know them