The Strokes Gave Coachella a Supercut of U.S.-Backed Coups, Bombings, and Assassinations

On Saturday night, as thousands of Beliebers camped out in front of Coachella’s main stage waiting for Justin Bieber to press play on YouTube and jump around, The Strokes wrapped their set with an explosive montage calling out U.S. interference in foreign governments, including assassinations, coups, and anything we’ve done in the name of not allowing other countries to profit off their own oil. The montage ended with the fact that more than 30 universities in Iran have been bombed by the U.S. and Israel since February. 

I can’t actually speak to the exact demographic breakdown of The Strokes’ audience, but they played from 9-10:10, and Bieber was on the same stage at 11:25. During Coachella weekend one, Julian Casablancas joked that he knew “why you all were here,” adding that the band was  “happy to lube you up” for Bieber. Regardless of how diehard fans were actually there, I enjoy the idea that big, big fans of Bieber (and/or his wife, Hailey Bieber) got to witness what artists actually have the power to do with a live performance—rather than, say, collecting (a rumoured) $10 million to stream YouTube.

The montage—projected across massive LED screens—featured Guatemalan president Jacobo Árbenz, who was overthrown in a CIA-engineered plot in 1954; Bolivian president Juan José Torres, ousted in 1971 and kidnapped and killed in 1976; Chilean president Salvador Allende, who killed himself during a 1973 CIA-backed coup; and Patrice Lumumba, the first democratically elected prime minister of the Congo, who was executed in 1961 with the backing of the Belgian military. (Though the U.S., for its part, also had a plan to assassinate him, given his threat to Western control over Congo’s mineral resources.)

@brutamerica The Strokes used their Coachella set to deliver a political message criticizing U.S. foreign intervention. The band performed “Oblivius” as screens showed a montage of world leaders linked to alleged or confirmed CIA involvement. #coachella #music #politics #thestrokes ♬ original sound – Brut.

Also included were Martin Luther King Jr., Panamanian military leader Omar Torrijos, Ecuadorian president Jaime Roldós Aguilera, and Iran’s democratically elected prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who was overthrown in a U.S.- and U.K.-backed coup in 1953 because he attempted to nationalize—drumroll, please–Iran’s oil. The montage closed with footage of the demolition of al-Israa University in Gaza, the last remaining university in the strip before it was bombed by Israel in 2024.

@jimmy_m199 #thestrokes ♬ original sound – Jimmy_jam199

The visuals played during The Strokes’ performance of their 2016 song, “Oblivius” (their first time playing it in a decade), so as all of the above was screened, Casablancas sang, “What side are you standing on?” As Jezebel contributor Nora Biette-Timmons wrote in this morning’s Dirt Bag: “For people who’ve been fans of The Strokes since ‘New York City Cops,’ it’s nice that their politics are consistent.” 

Casablancas also told the audience that he was “tempted to come out tonight with a laptop and show you guys some of those Iran Lego videos,” referring to the very hilarious AI-generated clips mocking Trump and calling out the U.S.’s long history of invading and attacking countries over oil, all illustrated using Legos. I imagine he decided against it so as not to upstage Bieber’s $10 million moment pressing play.