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Green Day and Charli XCX are playfully beefing at Coachella 2025.
During the music festival’s opening weekend in Indio, Calif., the pop star was spotted at an afterparty wearing a sash that read “Miss Should Be Headliner” — a cheeky statement many on social media interpreted as a jab at the veteran rock band, who headlined the main stage just before her set on Saturday (April 12).
Charli’s tongue-in-cheek dig didn’t go unnoticed by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong. On Saturday (April 19), during the trio’s closing set on weekend two of the festival, Armstrong stepped onto the stage wearing a neon green baseball cap emblazoned with the word “Brat,” a clear nod to the British singer-songwriter’s 2024 studio album of the same name.
To further play along, Green Day drummer Tré Cool was also spotted backstage rocking a handmade white sash that read “Actual Headliner” while flashing a smirk as he held his hands up.
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Despite the playful nature of the situation, Green Day’s fanbase quickly took offense to Charli’s “Miss Should Be Headliner” jab and rallied to defend the punk icons on social media.
During Coachella’s opening weekend, Armstrong altered the lyrics to “Jesus of Suburbia” to reference the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict. “Runnin’ away from pain like the kids from Palestine/ Tales from another broken home,” he sang, swapping out the original line, “Runnin’ away from pain when you’ve been victimized.”
“green day making a political statement about s— that actually matters > pop girlies singing about coke,” one fan wrote on X. Another user added, “Charli xcx letting hype get to her head. Green Day used their Coachella headliner slot to speak up for good. They are still bigger than her.”
During Green Day’s weekend two set, Armstrong again altered the lyrics to “Jesus of Suburbia,” this time taking aim at the vice president. “Am I (stupid) or am I just overjoyed?” became “Am I (stupid) or am I just J.D. Vance?” as he sang it to the crowd.
Weekend two of Coachella wraps up Sunday (April 20) with performances by Post Malone, Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion, JENNIE, Zedd, Kraftwerk, and more.
Dave Grohl made a surprise appearance during weekend two of Coachella 2025.
On Saturday (April 19), the Foo Fighters frontman took the stage with his guitar to join Venezuelan maestro Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic for powerful orchestral renditions of Foos songs “The Sky Is a Neighborhood” and “Everlong” at the Outdoor Theatre of the Indio, Calif., music festival.
The occasion marked Grohl’s first time performing Foo Fighters tracks since revealing last fall that he had fathered a child outside his marriage.
“I love my wife and my children, and I am doing everything I can to regain their trust and earn their forgiveness,” the musician shared in a September 2024 Instagram post.
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In the months since, Grohl has returned to the stage for several high-profile appearances, including performances with former Nirvana bandmates Krist Novoselic and Pat Smear — joined by guest vocalists — at the FireAid LA Benefit Concert in January and the SNL50: The Homecoming Concert in February.
Grohl wasn’t the only surprise during Saturday’s star-studded Coachella set. Wicked actress Cynthia Erivo, who plays Elphaba opposite Ariana Grande’s Glinda in the live-action adaptation of the Broadway musical, also appeared to perform what is believed to be “Brick by Brick,” a ballad from her forthcoming sophomore album, I Forgive You, according to Rolling Stone.
Erivo followed up with a soulful rendition of Prince’s “Purple Rain.” “Hello Coachella, nice to see you. Would you like a little Prince?” she asked the crowd, who erupted in cheers. “OK, Prince for you then.”
Other guest performers included Natasha Bedingfield, who sang her 2004 hit “Unwritten,” as well as Laufey and Argentine duo Paco Amoroso and Ca7riel.
Dudamel and the LA Phil made their Coachella debut during weekend one on April 12, with an eclectic lineup of special guests including Becky G and LL Cool J. This appearance marks a historic moment for the orchestra, as it’s their first time performing at the festival. The 2025–2026 season will also be Dudamel’s final year as music and artistic director of the LA Phil.
Weekend two of Coachella wraps up Sunday with performances by Post Malone, Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion, JENNIE, Zedd, Kraftwerk, and more.
Lana Del Rey‘s newest release, the lullaby-like “Bluebird” just released on Friday (April 18), is a song that’s been years in the making. The ballad first came to her while she held a little bird in her hands, shaken up after the small creature had crashed into her window.
The singer shared the story behind the delicate “Bluebird” in an impromptu video filmed on her way to rehearsal on Friday.
“I started humming this chorus to myself, with the words and the melody, a long time ago when I had been seeing someone for a very long time — and we hadn’t seen each other for a while, and he called,” Lana said in the clip uploaded on Instagram. “And he asked me if I wanted to go for a walk. I was kind of excited, but I didn’t think it was a very good idea.”
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Still, she said yes and began to get ready to meet him. She was startled by what happened next.
“All of a sudden a bird smacked in the double-pane window doors of my bedroom,” Lana recalled.
“I was shocked, and I opened the little door and I saw this little, I think it was a little sparrow, little swallow, right there, and I just was so emotional — because you know when you just know that something is meant for you?” she said. “Like sometimes I feel like nature has its own way of communicating with you, especially in extremely severe situations — not in a sacrificial way, just in a way just for you to know.”
Lana continued, “I just wanted to hold it. I was so hoping that it would be OK. I remember before I could even think, I just sat, knelt there, and I just sang, ‘Little bird, little bird, fly away for both of us.’ I was just kind of tearing up for myself and for the bird.”
As the story goes, the little bird did “eventually kind of stumble away,” and did fly away, according to Lana, who didn’t follow suit; she went on that walk anyway.
“That is not the first time that I have had something happen where a bird has been a little bit of a message for me,” she shared.
On the introspective “Bluebird,” she sings: “For your thoughts are small, they can’t keep you from leavin’/ As the wake of my past crashes in/ I hear the door slam, but the window’s wide open/ We both shouldn’t be dealing with him/ Find a way to fly/ Find a way to fly/ Just shoot for the sun ’til I can finally run/ Find a way to fly.”
“Bluebird” is the second song to be released ahead of her upcoming 10th studio album, the first being “Henry, Come On.” The record, once said to have country roots and called Lasso, and then known as The Right One Will Stay, is presently untitled and without a firm release date. Though it was expected just weeks from now, last week Lana casually broke the news to fans that May is no longer looking likely for the follow-up to 2023’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd: “You know it’s not going to come on time, right?”
She’ll be performing at this year’s Stagecoach, the annual country music festival held in Indio, California, the weekend after Coachella. She’s billed as having “a very special country set” by the fest.
See her talk about the origin of “Bluebird” below.
Megan Thee Stallion‘s “Whenever” is arriving in less than a week. The rapper just announced the new song title, along with its scheduled release date of April 25. The reveal came Saturday (April 19) on Meg’s social media accounts, where she posted movie poster-style art — featuring the promo “It’s whatever b—-, it’s whenever h–!” […]
Zak Starkey is officially back in The Who.
On Saturday (April 19), the band’s legendary guitarist Pete Townshend took to social media to announce that Starkey — Ringo Starr’s son and the iconic group’s drummer for nearly three decades — had been reinstated after what he described as “communication issues.”
“News Flash! Who Backs Zak! He’s not being asked to step down from The Who,” Townshend wrote on The Who’s Instagram account. “There have been some communication issues, personal and private on all sides, that needed to be dealt with, and these have been aired happily.”
The announcement comes just days after Starkey addressed rumors of his firing, reportedly sparked by singer Roger Daltrey’s dissatisfaction with Starkey’s performance during a Teenage Cancer Trust benefit show at London’s Royal Albert Hall in late March.
Townshend elaborated on the situation in his post, saying, “Roger and I would like Zak to tighten up his latest evolved drumming style to accommodate our non-orchestral line up and he has readily agreed. I take responsibility for some of the confusion. Our TCT shows at the Royal Albert Hall were a little tricky for me. I thought that four and a half weeks would be enough time to recover completely from having a complete knee replacement. (Why did I ever think I could land on my knees?) Wrong!”
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He continued, “Maybe we didn’t put enough time into sound checks, giving us problems on stage. The sound in the centre of the stage is always the most difficult to work with. Roger did nothing wrong but fiddle with his in-ear monitors. Zak made a few mistakes and he has apologised. Albeit with a rubber duck drummer. We are a family, this blew up very quickly and got too much oxygen. It’s over. We move forward now with optimism and fire in our bellies.”
Townshend also addressed speculation that Daltrey’s solo drummer, Scott Devours, might replace Starkey in The Who.
“As for Roger, fans can enjoy his forthcoming solo shows with his fabulous drummer, Scott Devours, who it was rumoured might replace Zak in The Who and has always been supportive of the band,” Townshend wrote. “I owe Scott an apology for not crushing that rumour before it spread. He has been hurt by this. I promise to buy him a very long drink and give him a hug.”
Starkey later shared Townshend’s post on his own Instagram, adding, “V grateful to be a part of the who family Thanks Roger and Pete xx. Repost from @officialthewho.”
The Who’s Royal Albert Hall charity shows on March 18 and 20 became a flashpoint after Metro reported that Daltrey grew frustrated during the set and halted several songs, citing issues hearing the band over Starkey’s drumming.
In an April 16 statement to People, Starkey pushed back, expressing surprise that anyone would have a problem with his performance.
“After playing those songs with the band for so many decades, I’m surprised and saddened anyone would have an issue with my performance that night,” the drummer said. “But what can you do?” He also revealed that he had suffered a “serious medical emergency” in January, involving blood clots in his right calf. “This is now completely healed and does not affect my drumming or running,” Starkey noted.
Starkey has been a central figure in The Who’s live lineup since 1996, when he joined the band for their reunion tour, performing their 1973 rock opera Quadrophenia in its entirety.
Lady Gaga didn’t let a technical hiccup put a damper on her Coachella 2025 performance. During her headlining set on the second weekend of the Indio, Calif., festival on Friday (April 18), the 39-year-old pop icon’s microphone began to cut out during just the second song of her set, “Abracadabra.” But ever the professional, Gaga […]
MGM+ television series Godfather of Harlem, starring Forest Whitaker as Harlem gangster Bumpy Johnson during his later years in the 1960s, made its return earlier this week for its fourth and final season. And with that comes another original soundtrack curated by Swizz Beatz. The lead single features Swizz teaming up with barbarians (shout to […]
When Chappell Roan was asked to name her “gay music video Holy Trinity,” she instantly rose to the challenge.
The pop singer/songwriter recently sat down — or, rather, stood up — for a Gaydar interview with Anania, who asked Roan to pick her big three gay music videos of all time.
“‘Alejandro,’ ‘She Wolf,’ ‘Beautiful Liar,’” Roan rattled off, choosing Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster visual, plus two separate Shakira music videos: the solo “She Wolf” and her epic Beyoncé team-up “Beautiful Liar.”
Roan and Anania even tried to mimic Shak & Bey’s hypnotic hip motions from the video, but the host had some excuses for why they couldn’t quite match the moves. “I could do it,” Anania says, “but the bones, they chilled up.” Roan laughs, “Your arthritis!” to which Anania responds, “Absolutely, right, it’s acting up today.”
In the Gaydar social series, Anania asks 20 questions of guests to figure out whether they’re “gay, straight or a homophobe.” In the end, Anania concludes, “I can confirm you’re not straight, so I think you’re gay.”
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“Wow! Thank you!” Roan responds with a cheeky smile to end the video.
Roan is currently promoting her latest country/pop single “The Giver,” which has topped the Hot Country Songs chart and has risen as high as No. 5 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100. There’s no word yet whether “The Giver” will be part of Roan’s next album, the follow-up to her 2023 debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
Watch Roan name her own personal holy trinity and the full interview below:
This Tuesday (April 15), hundreds of people from across the music industry gathered in Hollywood for the second annual Music Sustainability Summit.
Organized by the Music Sustainability Alliance (MSA), the event again brought together thought-leaders and innovators from the live music, labels, waste management, merch, food, design and production sectors. Panels and breakout sessions — curated around the event’s “progress through collaboration” theme — focused on the challenges and, more crucially, the many solutions that currently exist and can be implemented at scale as the industry takes on the ongoing climate crisis that’s affecting touring, events, the supply chain and the health and wellness of artists, teams, fans and the Earth itself.
“Sustainability is good for the planet and it’s good for business, and it’s being led by the people in this room,” MSA CEO/co-founder Amy Morrison said at the start of the day, “but we’re not done. There’s still more to learn, more to share and more to do. And let’s be honest, this work is only getting more important as some political forces pull back from climate commitments and even try to undermine environmental progress. It’s falling on industries like ours to step up and lead.”
The day began with a stirring performance from singer and environmental activist Antonique Smith and a rousing conversation with activist Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., who emphasized the importance of artists and not just engaging in performative activism, but truly engaging with the people who are feeling the very real effects of the climate crisis. “You have to be amongst the people,” Yearwood Jr. told the rapt crowd. “Not only will it make you a better artist, but you will transform yourself by being with the people and feeling the crisis. It will allow you to create art that is divine, that is otherworldly. You will begin to create something that isn’t just pain and depression, but something that could actually change and save this world.
The day of conversations went on to provide huge insights on the many ways the music industry can transition to greater sustainability and do its part in humanity’s greatest challenge, via panel topics that included live music emissions in the U.S. and U.K., why paying attention to menus at venues at events is important, the evolving clean energy sector, strategies that are being used in film, sports and live theater, sustainability in contracts and more.
Here are five things we learned from the conference.
The Music Industry Could Be Greener Through More Strategic Planning
Post Malone’s ex-fiancée, Hee Sung “Jamie” Park, has filed a court petition seeking sole physical custody of their two-year-old daughter. Park is filing for primary physical custody of the ex-couple’s daughter — named in court documents as “DDP” with a birthdate of May 26, 2022 — while allowing Post visitation rights, in addition to joint […]
