Billie Joe Armstrong plays poignant 'Wake Me Up When September Ends' on One World: Together At Home special
Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong gave a poignant performance of ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ during the One World: Together At Home charity live-stream yesterday (April 18).
Armstrong was one of a number of high-profile musicians to appear on the benefit broadcast, which was curated by Lady Gaga and fundraised for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
During the punk frontman’s rendition of the 2004 classic, photos of empty streets in major metropolises around the world appeared on screen, including Piccadilly Circus in London, the Times Square subway station in New York, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Watch it below now.
Elsewhere on the global live-stream, Paul McCartney made an impassioned speech, calling on world leaders to “strengthen health care systems” to prevent future crises like the coronavirus pandemic.
“As this COVID-19 pandemic is a global crisis, we all have to come together to fight it on a global scale,” he said. “Let’s tell our leaders we need them to strengthen the health care systems all around the world so that a crisis like this never happens again.”
The special event also featured performances from the likes of The Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Stevie Wonder, and Lady Gaga, and raised nearly $128 million (£102m) for the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund.
Since the pandemic began, Armstrong has been putting out a new cover every week in a series dubbed No Fun Mondays. His latest session saw him tackle The Avengers’ ‘Corpus Christi’, while in the past he’s taken on the likes of The Bangles’ ‘Manic Monday’ and Johnny Thunders’ ‘You Can’t Put Your Arms Around A Memory’.
