If Heineken Did Pub Gigs! Green Day Maverick Billie Joe Armstrong Brings The Coverups to the 02 Islington!!

Written by Louise Phillips on January 22, 2025

If Heineken Did Pub Gigs! Green Day Maverick Billie Joe Armstrong Brings The Coverups to the 02 Islington!!

Imagine going to see a covers band in the biggest pub you’ve ever seen and then imagine that the bloke singing in that band was no other than rock legend Billie Joe Armstrong! Well, that’s exactly what happened!! To say the announcements for this gig were a bit low key, was a bit of an understatement, but word had got round and to say the venue was heaving is like saying the Pope’s a little bit on the Catholic side!

Started by Billie Joe during lockdown as a way of keeping the boredom at bay, The Coverups have become a bit of an obsession for Green Day fans and a way to see their hero away from the usual stadium sized venues that Green Day sell out within hours! The golden ticket for every Green Day fan!

Support was from The Speedways who Billie discovered over Instagram! Catchy, fun and effortlessly cool. They were a great choice and the audience embraced their set wholeheartedly.

The first track of the night was The Plimsouls track, ‘A Million Miles Away’, a track that Billie Joe himself covered not so long ago with his Green Day side project, ‘The Longshot’, the distinctive guitar intro created a wave of excitement and loud cheers in the packed auditorium and the crowd started rocking, the party had well and truly started!

After a hasty guitar change due to a slight technical issue, Billie launched into the classic Ramones cover, ‘I wanna Be Sedated’ to roars of appreciation from the crowd, before joking to the photographers that it was their lucky night as they got to shoot two guitars instead of one! Warm and instantly likable, Billie couldn’t have been more down to earth. He was Definitely what you’d call a salt of the earth kind of guy!

The Buzzcocks cover, ‘Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ was a big crowd pleaser and had the audience singing along at the top of their lungs! Everyone was in the party mood, as the relaxed Billie bantered with the crowd as they shouted out requests like they were in their local pub and somehow it just felt normal, like we were all having a knees up with Billie in his gaff! The atmosphere within the crowd was super relaxed too, strangers dancing and singing along together, having fun, knocking back the beers like they were in their local! And it didn’t let up until the night was over!

The hits came thick and fast, some your usual pub covers, others less expected like the Tommy James & the Shondells cover, I Think We’re Alone Now! A track made famous by teen pop star Tiffany in the 80’s, given The Coverup treatment it was pure gold and the audience loved it!!

The Brian Adams cover, ‘Summer of ’69’ was rocky as hell and brilliant and The David Bowie covers, ‘Ziggy Stardust’ and ‘Suffragette City’, were pure rock’n’roll and as Billie made shapes with his guitar and the band rocked out, the crowd were clearly in their happy place!!

The Damned cover ‘Neat Neat Neat’ was a nod back to Billie’s early punk roots and despite the absence of Green Day bandmate Mike Dirnt, they were just as rock’n’roll as ever! With touring guitarist Jason White on second guitar, Bill Schneider on bass and Chris Dugan on drums, the band that at one point Billie described as a “glorified karaoke band” were on top form! When he urged the audience to “dance, drink and be merry” they were only too happy to oblige as they danced their socks off and partied like their lives depended on it! The Clash cover, ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go’, was absolute dynamite and created a pogoing frenzy of dancing bodies, proper punk on every level.

Whilst there were too many great tunes to mention, some of the best tracks of the night were the The Crickets cover, (more commonly known as a Clash classic), ‘I Fought the Law’ and the incredible Cheap Trick cover ‘Surrender’, which was absolutely stunning!

Whilst the whole vibe of the night definitely had a light hearted, chilling with Billie and his band kinda feel, Billie became a bit more serious when he dedicated the last track of the night, the beautiful Brinsley Schwarz cover, ‘(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding’ to the survivors of the Californian wildfires. Showing his warm and compassion side, it made the crowd love him even more, if that’s even possible!

So, if you happen to see a nonchalant post on Green Days Instagram that tells you that The Coverups are in town, book your tickets before anyone else sees it, because you won’t regret it, because The Coverups take chilled feelgood cover bands to a whole new level!

Setlist:

A Million Miles Away (The Plimsouls)
I wanna Be Sedated (Ramones)
Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) Buzzcocks cover
I Think We’re Alone Now (Tommy James & the Shondells)
Message of Love (The Pretenders)
Summer of ’69 (Brian Adams)
American Girl (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
I Fought the Law (The Crickets)
Dancing With Myself (Generation X)
Rockaway Beach (The Ramones)
Love is for Losers (The Longshot)
Ziggy Stardust (David Bowie)
Suffragette City (David Bowie)
Neat Neat Neat (The Damned)
Drain You (Nirvana)
Last Nite (The Strokes)
Fox on the Run (The Sweet)
Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)
Should I stay or Should I Go (The Clash)
Surrender (Cheap Trick)
Where Eagles Dare (Misfits)
I’m So Bored With the U.S.A (The Clash)
Don’t Change (INXS)
All the Young Dudes (David Bowie)
(What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding (Brinsley Schwarz)