The Strokes Ended Their Coachella Performance By Slamming US Foreign Intervention, Including In Gaza
The vocalist Julian Casablancas repeated the song's chorus “What side are you standing on?” as the screen faded to black.
American rock band the Strokes ended their Coachella performance with a political video montage, calling out US foreign intervention around the world, including Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the US and Israel’s war on Iran.
Coachella is one of the biggest music festivals in the world, held annually in the California desert, drawing hundreds of thousands of people and is streamed live to millions on YouTube.
The Strokes, an American rock band that rose to fame in the early 2000s, returned to Coachella for the first time in 15 years and ended their set during the festival’s second week on Saturday, April 18, with a massive political statement.
To close their set, the band performed “Oblivius”, a song they had not performed in ten years, along with a six-minute video montage.
As they played, the giant screens behind them showed footage of the US bombing Iran, with the caption “Over 30 universities destroyed in Iran,” before ending on footage of Israel demolishing Al-Israa University in Gaza, with the caption “Last university standing in Gaza.”
Israel has systematically destroyed nearly all of Gaza’s universities since it began its genocide in Gaza in 2023, killing more than 72,000 Palestinians.
It has also destroyed more than 30 universities in Iran in its joint attacks with the US since Feb. 28.
The video also referenced slavery, the Black Lives Matter protests, and foreign leaders the band said were allegedly killed by the CIA, including Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós and Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos, both of whom died in separate plane crashes in 1981.
The vocalist Julian Casablancas then repeated the song's chorus “What side are you standing on?” as the screen faded to black.
Earlier in the set, he had told the crowd he was “tempted” to show the audience the “Iran Lego videos” — videos produced by Iranian state-linked media and groups, including a series of viral AI-generated, Lego-style propaganda animations on the war — saying they have “more facts than your local news.”
Clips spread rapidly online, amassing millions of views on platforms like X and YouTube and people online praised the group for highlighting issues around the world.
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