Dua Lipa was joined by Green Day‘s Billie Joe Armstrong for a cover of ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ – watch footage of the moment below.
Last night (October 12), Lipa continued her ‘Radical Optimism’ tour with a stop at San Francisco’s Chase Center, where she surprised the audience with a special guest performer, as has become tradition in her live sets, where, over the course of the tour, she’s been paying homage to local music icons in the city she’s performing in.
This time, she brought out Armstrong, telling the crowd: “Every night we do a different surprise song by a local artist, and I immediately thought about San Francisco and all the incredible music that has come out of here.
“I thought about one band in particular, she said, before the two launched into the 2004 hit. “Join me in welcoming the incredible Billie Joe from Green Day!”
Dua Lipa surprised the crowd in San Francisco by bringing out Billie Joe Armstrong as a special guest to perform Wake Me Up When September Ends together #billiejoearmstrong #greenday #dualipa #radicaloptimismtour mere pic.twitter.com/zLVaJff7qo
— Green Day Italy (@GreenDayItaly_) October 13, 2025
In recent years, Green Day fans have said they’ve grown weary of the annual ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ jokes. Typically, every October, people will take to social meda and make jokes about waking Armstrong up in reference to the track.
Fans have seemingly grown tired of the routine, with many reminding people that the song was written about the musician’s father, who passed away in 1982 when Armstrong was just ten-years old.
In a 2019 interview on The Howard Stern Show, Armstrong explained how he still thinks about his father when performing the song. “I think about him every day, really. I kinda avoided writing about him for many years, and then finally having a breakthrough like that felt good. It wasn’t like a negative emotion so much, but it was just kind of like honouring him.”
So far, the lengthy list of artist Lipa has covered include Ariana Grande in Miami, Aerosmith in Boston, Sinéad O’Connor in Dublin, Daft Punk in Lyon, Lorde in Zealand and more.
The tour has also seen big-name artists join Lipa for versions of their own songs. So far, these have included Gwen Stefani for ‘Don’t Speak’ in Los Angeles, Nile Rodgers for ‘Le Freak‘ in New York City, Chaka Khan for ‘Ain’t Nobody’ in Chicago, Jamiroquai for ‘Virtual Insanity’ in London, Neil Finn for ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ in Auckland, and Kevin Parker for ‘The Less I Know The Better’ in Sydney.
Her two Wembley shows in June later became the subject of a mini-documentary titled Dua Lipa – The Beat Before (Wembley Stadium), which chronicled behind-the-scenes footage and fan vox-pops from the gigs.
The post Watch Dua Lipa perform ‘Wake Me Up When September Ends’ with Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong appeared first on NME.
