They covered three songs together on stage before Courtney Love withdrew.
On Tuesday, February 27th, Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong gave a small concert in London together with his side project, the cover band The Coverups. In addition to some well-known personalities who were in the audience, the artist also brought a surprise guest to the stage. He was accompanied for three songs by former Hole singer and Kurt Cobain widow Courtney Love.
“How are you guys?” Armstrong asked the group in the 600-person venue, which included Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols, Clem Burke from Blondie and comedy legend Frank Skinner that evening . “We are The Coverups, we play cover songs. This is what we do at home too. We’re just friends who get together and hang out and it’s just glorified karaoke,” he continued his speech. The group, which also includes Green Day guitarist Jason White and some of the singer’s friends, specializes in punk and rock classics, which they perform in improvised gigs.
After opening, Billie Joe Armstrong started with the coverups’ first song, “A Million Miles Away” by the Plimsouls. This was followed by more classics from the Ramones, the Pretenders, the Sex Pistols, Bryan Adams, The Clash and David Bowie. A little later, the 52-year-old warmed up the crowd to welcome a special guest and welcomed Courtney Love to the stage.
“Thank you, Billie Joe. My name is Courtney Love – you may not remember me. I’ve been living in a cave in Birmingham for about nine years. “We’ll give it a damn try, won’t we?” said the grunge icon to applause from the visitors. Together they then performed their interpretations of “He’s a Whore” by Cheap Trick and “Even the Losers” by Tom Petty. Love returned later for a performance of Cheap Trick’s “Surrender” before bowing out again.
Check out some pictures and videos of Courtney Love and Billie Joe Armstrong here:
Armstrong expressed his gratitude to her and said, “I told you it would be a special evening. Thank you Courtney, we need you.”
Here is the entire setlist from the evening:
- “A Million Miles Away” (The Plimsouls)
- “I Wanna Be Sedated” (Ramones)
- “Ready Steady Go” (Generation X)
- “I Think We’re Alone Now” (Tommy James & the Shondells)
- “Message of Love” (Pretenders)
- “Summer of ’69” (Bryan Adams)
- “Walking Out on Love” (Paul Collins Beat)
- “I Fought the Law” (The Crickets)
- “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)” (Buzzcocks)
- “I’m So Bored With the USA” (The Clash)
- “Ziggy Stardust” (David Bowie)
- “Dancing With Myself” (Generation X)
- “He’s a Whore” (Cheap Trick – with Courtney Love)
- “Even the Losers” (Tom Petty – with Courtney Love)
- “Neat Neat Neat” (The Damned)
- “Drain You” (Nirvana)
- “Last Nite” (The Strokes)
- “American Girl” (Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers)
- “Love is for Losers” (The Longshot)
- “Fox on the Run” (Sweet)
- “Rockaway Beach” (Ramones)
- “Should I Stay or Should I Go” (The Clash)
- “Surrender” (Cheap Trick – with Courtney Love)
- “Where Eagles Dare” (Misfits)