Watch Green Day perform Basket Case with original demo lyrics

As well as picking up the Landmark Award, Green Day gave a great performance at last night’s iHeartRadio Music Awards… but with a very cool twist.

The band hit the stage at The Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles to play a two-song medley of Bobby Sox from this year’s killer album Saviors, and classic Dookie single Basket Case.

However, with the latter track frontman Billie Joe Armstrong changed up the lyrics in the second verse, instead singing the words that he wrote in the original demo version of the song (which recently saw the light of day via the 4-track demo on Dookie’s 30th Anniversary edition).

Billie actually said earlier this year that he thought those original lyrics were “embarrassingly bad” – and of course he ended up rewriting it, which he said was “the best decision I’d ever made, probably, as a songwriter”.

But it’s nevertheless pretty cool to hear a different version of Basket Case in 2024, with the frontman singing: ‘They said this has been emotionless flight / Around each other intoxicating their minds / Dancing in the street under suburban lights / They stumbled to the ground without a hurt.’

Check it out below:

Catch Green Day at the following dates this year on The Saviors Tour – get your tickets now.

May

30 Monte do Gozo, Spain – O Son do Camino

June

1 Madrid Spain – Road to Rio Babel
5 Lyon Decines – LDLC Arena - with The Interrupters
7 Nurnberg Germany – Rock im Park
8 Nurburgring Germany – Rock am Ring
10 Berlin Germany – Waldbühne
11 Hamburg Germany – Trabrennbahn Bahrenfeld
15 Interlaken Switzerland – Greenfield Festival
16 Milan Italy – I Days - Hippodrome La Maura
18 Paris France – Accor Arena
19 Arnhem Netherlands – GelreDome
21 Manchester UK – Emirates Old Trafford
23 Isle of Wight UK – Isle of Wight Festival
25 Glasgow UK – Bellahouston Park
27 Dublin Ireland – Marlay Park
29 London UK – Wembley Stadium

July

29 Washington, DC – Nationals Park

August

1 Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre
3 Montreal, QC – Osheaga Music and Arts Festival
5 New York, NY – Citi Field
7 Boston, MA – Fenway Park
9 Philadelphia, PA – Citizens Bank Park
10 Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium
13 Chicago, IL – Wrigley Field
15 St. Louis, MO – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
17 Minneapolis, MN – Target Field
20 Kansas City, KS – Azura Amphitheatre
22 Cincinnati, OH – Great American Ballpark
24 Milwaukee, WI – American Family Field
26 Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion
28 Atlanta, GA – Truist Park
30 Nashville, TN – Geodis Park

September

1 Pittsburgh, PA – PNC Park
4 Detroit, MI – Comerica Park
7 Denver, CO – Coors Field
10 Austin, TX – Germania Insurance Amphitheater
11 Arlington, TX – Globe Life Field
14 Los Angeles, CA – SoFi Stadium
18 Phoenix, AZ – Chase Field
20 San Francisco, CA – Oracle Park
23 Seattle, WA – T-Mobile Park
25 Portland, OR – Providence Park
28 San Diego, CA – Petco Park

Read this: Green Day: “We’re not going anywhere… and we’re just getting better!”