Green Day Electrifies Coachella 2025: Saturday's Top Moments and Surprise Guests

Green Day's Powerhouse Return Takes Over Coachella

If you showed up at the Empire Polo Club in Indio on Saturday for Coachella 2025’s first weekend, you probably felt the buzz well before the sun went down. All eyes—and ears—locked onto Green Day as the legendary punk band stormed the main stage, giving the massive crowd exactly what they wanted: the anthems that helped shape a generation. From the riotous shouts of “American Idiot” to the unmistakable sway of “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life),” Green Day tossed nostalgia up in the desert air and made everyone sing along like it was 2004 all over again.

Billy Joe Armstrong’s energy was relentless, stomping from one end of the stage to the other, egging fans on. The band’s chemistry, even after decades together, made their classic tracks feel freshly unhinged. Set against California’s pink sky, their performance wasn’t just loud—it was a unifying experience, with old-school fans and first-timers punching the air together for every chorus.

A Day of Surprises and Collaborations

Before the sun had even set, the festival felt like it was full of musical Easter eggs. Charli XCX, known for futuristic pop bangers and high-energy shows, brought a supergroup’s worth of surprise: Troye Sivan, Lorde, and Billie Eilish all hopping on stage for collab moments no one expected. The energy spiked every time a new face hit the stage—especially when Billie Eilish and Charli traded vocals on an unreleased track, whipping social media into a frenzy almost instantly.

Meanwhile, Megan Thee Stallion kept the surprises rolling by inviting Spiritbox’s Courtney LaPlante up for a genre-bending performance that mashed rap, metal, and hyper-energetic stage presence. It was one of those only-at-Coachella moments that left jaws on the ground (and probably led to half of TikTok hitting replay).

But it wasn’t just about the headliners. Jimmy Eat World brought pure 2000s flavor, delivering “The Middle” and “Sweetness” with just as much emo punch as back in the day. T-Pain had festivalgoers moving with every auto-tune-soaked hit, reminding folks why his catalog still slaps as hard as any. Skrause and other up-and-comers filled the air with new sounds for the early birds, and the setup made it easy to wander from stage to stage without feeling like you had to sprint to catch the next big thing.

No one could miss the buzz about Weezer’s pop-up slot set for Sunday, but Saturday’s energy was all about Green Day’s magnetic pull and Travis Scott’s night-ending set, which turned the desert into one giant, adrenaline-fueled party. The crowd bounced from the charged mosh pits at Green Day to Travis Scott’s laser-heavy spectacle, soaking up two very different flavors of musical chaos.

With festival design letting music fans roam smoothly between stages and a lineup that mixed nostalgia with the now, Saturday at Coachella 2025 leveled up what springtime in the desert can feel like—unpredictable, loud, and a little bit magical.