The Strokes condemn US imperialism in Coachella set
- Text by Noah Petersons
- Photography by Coachella / YouTube screengrab
Oblivius — The band finished their performance at the festival’s second weekend with a montage of bombings in Gaza and Iran, along with images of world leaders that the CIA has been accused of overthrowing over the past century.
The Strokes called out the US government and CIA for intervention in foreign affairs in a politically charged set closing at the second weekend of Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival 2026.
On Saturday, the band backed their 2016 deep cut ‘Oblivius’ with a video montage taking direct aim at the CIA’s history of foreign interference. As Julian Casablancas repeated the song’s chorus – “What side you standing on?” – the LED screen behind the band cycled through a roster of world leaders throughout history, whose deaths or removals from power have either been suspected or proven to have been orchestrated by the US government.
Included in the montage were Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, ousted in 1953 following a coup led by American and British intelligence services, Guatemalan President Jacobo Árbenz in 1954, Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba who was assassinated in 1961, Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973 and Bolivian President Juan José Torres in 1976.
The montage also pointed to the suspicious 1981 plane crash deaths of Panamanian leader Omar Torrijos and Ecuadorian President Jaime Roldós, while also including an image of Martin Luther King Jr., pointing to the 1999 civil trial that found that US government agencies had participated in a conspiracy to assassinate the civil rights leader.
It concluded with present-day footage, depicting more than 30 universities in Iran reduced to rubble by US-Israeli airstrikes and the controlled demolition of al-Israa University – the last standing university in Gaza – destroyed by Israeli forces in 2024. The screen then cut to a shot of a fighter jet before fading to black, and the band walked off.
Read next: “Madness can be overcome”: Robert Del Naja releases statement after Palestine Action arrest
The Strokes, particularly Casablancas, have increasingly used their platform to call out injustices in recent years. In 2021, Casablancas signed the Musicians for Palestine open letter, which called for the boycott of Israeli cultural institutions. In 2016, speaking to Zane Lowe on the Beats 1 radio show, Casablancas claimed that when they released ‘Oblivius’, they were forced to scrap the music video due its “super heavy political content”. The Strokes frontman did not elaborate on who or what prevented its surface, other than it was through different “indirect corridors”.
Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello praised the band’s performance online, posting on X: “The Strokes raging against the machine at Coachella. Salute!”
Noah Petersons is a freelance journalist.
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