Tom Morello and Bruce Springsteen Lead Solidarity Rally at Power to the People Festival

Columbia, Md. — A lineup featuring Tom Morello, Bruce Springsteen, and Joan Baez took the stage on October 3 for the finale of the Power to the People Festival at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The event, held less than 30 miles from the nation’s capital, served as a musical counterpoint to the upcoming midterm elections and a direct response to the political climate under the Trump administration.

Morello, who has staged benefit shows since his early career before rising to fame with Rage Against the Machine, conceived the festival as a multigenerational celebration of music as resistance. “In a time where hatred and division are rife, this is a festival of love and solidarity,” Morello said shortly after the performance. He emphasized that the event guaranteed artists the freedom to perform and speak without censorship, contrasting it with an era where many creators feel pressured to self-censor.

The festival’s roster highlighted a lineage of protest music, featuring acts such as Public Enemy, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, Serj Tankian, Dave Matthews, and the Foo Fighters. Ken Casey of the Dropkick Murphys delivered a high-energy set, telling TIME that the gathering demonstrated a community’s desire for a unified, empathetic America.

Springsteen, currently touring with a setlist that critiques Trump and MAGA ideologies, headlined the event. At 76, he performed his new song “Streets of Minneapolis,” written in response to Operation Metro Surge, a recent immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota that resulted in the deaths of two Americans. He was joined on stage by Baez for an acoustic version of Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom” and by Morello for covers of The Clash’s “Clampdown” and Tom Petty’s “The Ghost of Tom Joad.” The set also included renditions of CCR’s “Fortunate Son” and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

The gathering occurred against a backdrop of artistic hesitation. Macklemore, recently removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour due to pressure from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft over his pro-Palestinian advocacy, sent a video message instead of appearing in person. Morello noted that while agents and managers were initially reluctant to support the festival, interest surged following the events in Minneapolis, with numerous artists volunteering to participate.

The audience reflected a coalition of aging baby boomers carrying countercultural traditions and younger activists concerned about corporate power and the war in Gaza. Signs throughout the venue displayed messages such as “Keep the Immigrants. Deport the Racists. MS NOW.” The festival was livestreamed by MSN.

For the closing number, the entire cast returned to the stage to perform a restored version of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land,” including verses often omitted in standard covers that critique private property and economic inequality. Morello dedicated the moment to his late mother, Mary Morello, who died recently at age 102 and was known for her activism during the Great Depression. He noted the symbolism of the venue’s location, formerly known as “Mary Land,” near Washington, D.C.

The concert concluded with John Lennon’s “Power to the People,” a direct address to the current administration. With Trump’s poll numbers at a low point in his second term and the midterms approaching, Morello framed the event as a call to democratic agency. “History is not something that happens,” he told the crowd. “History is something we make.”