The Strokes' Political Statement at Coachella

0:00It's April 19th, I'm Kory with the story, and this is Music News today, your AI-powered music briefing. The strokes just wrapped their second Coachella set on April 18th, closing with a rare performance of Oblivious, a track they hadn't played. Live since its release, back in 2016. During the song, they screened a heavy video montage hitting on U.S. foreign policy, spotlighting leaders like Iran's Muhammad Mosadeg and Chile's, Salvador Alende. Iran's history links to CIA involvement. That visual also nodded to a 1999 civil trial, where a jury held government agencies, partly responsible for Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination. It ramped up with claims that over 30 universities in Iran got destroyed in America's conflict there, capping off with footage of Gaza's last. Standing University getting bombed. Fans and media reactions split hard. Some hailed the band for dropping truth bombs. Others slammed it as out of place for a festival gig.

1:01A few even worried this bold move means no more. Coachella invites, while outlets like the Los Angeles Times guessed the screen cut to black right. After might have been technical, not planned. There are two weak and setless, overlapped on hits like, hard to explain, and you only live once. But this one added fresh cuts, like, life is simple in. The moonlight. The whole thing's got folks debating where art meets activism on stage.