Green Day Returns To iHeartRadio Music Festival After Infamous 2012 Rant

Seven years after Green Day trashed their guitars (and Justin Bieber) at the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival, the rock band returned to Sin City on Friday (September 20) for the kickoff of this year's installment and they made sure that their comeback performance lived up to their rock n' roll stature.

Introduced by Ryan Seacrest and Christina Aguilera, Billie Joe Armstrong and his bandmates went through a handful of their greatest hits, with a surplus of shoutouts to the audience. Among the usual suspects included new single, "Father of All," "Holiday," "Basket Case" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." The group, which recently announced their "Mega Hella Tour," alongside Weezer and Fall Out Boy, also turned their rifle on President Donald Trump when Armstrong switched a line in "American Idiot" from "I'm not a part of a redneck agenda" to "I'm not a part of a MAGNA agenda." It also happens to be the 15th year anniversary of the 2004 smash.

Prior to the band's performance, Armstrong spoke about the infamous on-stage incident, admitting that there was an intent behind his reaction to a clock visibly clicking down the time remaining for their set. "I think that there's a lot of people in the rock genre and the problem with rock music is that people are trying to write the feel-good song of the year or something, and rock music is supposed to make you feel bad," he explained. "And that was the intention of the last time at the [iHeartRadio Music Festival], for me, I was like, 'I want to make everyone feel bad.'"

If you missed any part of the weekend, we've got you covered. Fans can re-live all of the epic performances and collaborations by tuning in to a televised special on The CW Network at 8 p.m. ET/PT on October 2nd and 3rd. And leading up to the official television special, The CW will also air an hour-long Best Of Special on Sunday, September 29th at 8 p.m. ET/PT taking a look back on all of the most iconic moments from the festival in its nine year history.

Photo: Getty Images


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