Green Day omit political lyrics during Super Bowl LX performance at Levi Stadium

Green Day skipped some of their most political lyrics while performing songs from American Idiot at Super Bowl LX

Green Day opened Super Bowl LX at Levi Stadium in Santa Clara, California, with a set that featured several of their best-known songs but omitted some of the band’s most overtly political lyrics.

The band began their pre-game performance with “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” before moving into “Holiday,” one of the most politically charged tracks from their 2004 album American Idiot.

While the first two verses were performed as recorded, Green Day skipped the song’s controversial bridge, which includes the line “Sieg Heil to the President Gasman,” originally written as a criticism of former US President George W. Bush. The band instead ended the song early.

Green Day then launched into “American Idiot,” the album’s title track. In recent live shows, frontman Billie Joe Armstrong has altered lyrics in the song’s second verse to reference contemporary US politics.

During the Super Bowl performance, however, the band omitted that verse entirely, transitioning into an instrumental section and guitar solo after the first chorus. Former Super Bowl MVPs later joined the group on stage as they concluded their set, which also included “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.

The performance marked a contrast with Green Day’s appearance at a Spotify and FanDuel event in San Francisco days earlier, where Armstrong delivered the full political lyrics and criticised Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the set.

American Idiot was released in 2004 and became known for its criticism of US politics at the time, establishing Green Day as a prominent political voice in mainstream music.

While the band have continued to express political views on tour, the Super Bowl performance was more restrained than some fans had expected.

Green Day, formed in California’s East Bay, have released 14 studio albums, most recently Saviors in 2024. Armstrong previously said in an interview with 102.1 the Edge that political songs require timing and intent, adding that with Saviors, “we brought it out, and we felt like it was the perfect time for it.”