Green Day and Jimmy Fallon Rock N.Y. Subway Station With Surprise ‘Basket Case’ Performance
If you happen to wander into the Rockefeller Center subway station in New York on Tuesday night (Jan. 16) and caught a glimpse of a pretty decent Green Day cover band rocking for some beer money you probably should have pushed to the front. As it turns out, the veteran pop-punk trio went underground with Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon for his latest surprise pop-up commuter jam session for an upcoming late night segment.
According to video posted by fans, singer Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist Mike Dirnt and drummer Tré Cool and Fallon arrived in disguise, wearing floppy wigs and shades — with Fallon deeply undercover in a long blonde weird beard and matching shoulder-length curly hair wig. The unplugged set opened with a mellow cover of Bad Company’s 1975 classic “Feel Like Makin’ Love,” with the quartet all looking appropriately AM radio groovy as word seemed to spread among the growing, cameras-in-the-air crowd that perhaps these were not your usual buskers.
Though the Tonight Show has not yet announced when the segment will air, Green Day are gearing up for an intimate gig at New York’s 1,100-capacity Irving Plaza on Thursday night (Jan. 18) in advance of Friday’s (Jan. 19) release of their 14th full-length studio album, Saviors.
After taking off the disguises, the band then ripped through a mini-set that included 1994 Dookie single “Basket Case” — the band is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their breakthrough major label debut album — as well as the Saviors singles “Look Ma, No Brains!” and “Dilemma,” a cover of KISS’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” and “American Idiot,” with Fallon shouting along and playing tambourine.
Green Day are gearing up for the upcoming European and North American legs of their Saviors Tour, which will find them playing Dookie and American Idiot each night, plus other favorites; the U.S. dates will feature support from the Smashing Pumpkins, Rancid and the Linda Lindas.
Check out footage of the surprise Green Day set below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
