'This Is Still America': Bruce Springsteen Headlines Tom Morello's Power to the People Festival at Merriweather

COLUMBIA, Md. — In the shadow of Washington, D.C., Bruce Springsteen had a message for the world. “Let them hear you in Washington,” Springsteen told the sold-out crowd. The setting was the inaugural Power to the People festival, a one-day gathering at Merriweather Post Pavilion organized by Tom Morello — the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave — that turned Saturday, October 3, 2026, into one of the loudest statements American rock music has made in years.

The festival billed itself as a non-partisan celebration of “peace, justice, solidarity, music, and community action,” per Morello’s announcement, and the lineup read like a cross-generational summit: Foo Fighters, Dave Matthews, Joan Baez, Public Enemy, Brittany Howard, Dropkick Murphys, Cypress Hill, Killer Mike, Serj Tankian, Taylor Momsen, the Linda Lindas, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Morello himself, alongside Jack Black performing with Roman Morello, Revel Ian, Yoyoka Soma and Hugo Weiss, and artist Shepard Fairey on artwork and a DJ set. Later additions included Nathaniel Rateliff, Stephen Stills, Mike McCready, Geezer Butler, State Radio, Anthrax’s Scott Ian and The Last Internationale. Springsteen was listed as a special guest performer. Across two stages with no overlapping sets — and with the running order kept secret until attendees walked through the gates — the day ran like a single unbroken argument for what music can do when it means it.

Morello put the thesis plainly in the festival’s announcement: “The Power To The People festival is about freedom, justice, equality and rock and roll. It’s about the power everyday human beings have when they come together through music, art, community, and action. We’re honored to bring this incredible lineup to the DC area for a day that celebrates the spirit of activism, creativity, and hope.”

The music was only part of the day. A section called Freedom Village gathered nonprofit organizations, advocacy groups, artists and community partners focused on civic engagement, grassroots organizing, education and mutual aid. The Associated Press reported attendees could engage with the ACLU, Farm Aid, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Oxfam and more, while HeadCount ran on-site voter registration. A portion of the proceeds from all ticket sales, plus 100 percent of the net proceeds from VIP tickets, went to VoteRiders and HeadCount, two organizations focused on voter access and civic participation. A Face Value Ticket Exchange run in partnership with CashorTrade gave fans who couldn’t attend — and fans who’d missed out — an official place to buy and sell at face value.

It was also a festival built to be seen: the sold-out event streamed live and free on the YouTube channel of MS NOW, the news network formerly known as MSNBC, beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern, with no subscription required.

If the day had a thesis statement, Springsteen delivered it. He opened his headlining set alone, acoustically, with “Streets of Minneapolis” — his protest song written in response to the heightened presence of federal immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year. Introducing it, Springsteen told the crowd: “This past winter, the federal troops brought death and terror to the streets of Minneapolis. Well, they picked the wrong city.”

Springsteen went on: “The power and solidarity of the people of Minneapolis, of Minnesota, is an inspiration to the entire country. Their strength and their commitment told us that this is still America, and this will not stand. They gave us hope. They showed us courage.” He named the two people at the heart of the song — Renee Good, a mother of three, and Alex Pretti, a VA nurse — both killed by federal immigration agents, and spoke of what he called the government’s failure to investigate their deaths. “Their bravery, their sacrifice, and their names will not be forgotten,” Springsteen said.

The setlist that followed was a study in how Springsteen has spent this year. Folk icon Joan Baez emerged for his second number and the two duetted Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom”; Morello joined him for the Clash’s “Clampdown” and “The Ghost of Tom Joad”; then Springsteen, Morello, Dave Matthews and Nathaniel Rateliff joined forces for Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son” — Springsteen’s first performance of the song since 2009, according to setlist.fm’s listing. The night closed with Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World,” with Morello, Matthews and Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl on stage together.

The finale belonged to everyone. The performers gathered for an ensemble performance of “This Land Is Your Land” — and of the festival’s namesake, “Power to the People” — featuring Morello, Springsteen, Baez, Stills, the Linda Lindas, Grohl, Matthews, Rateliff, McDaniels, grandson, Roman Morello and more.

The choice of closing song carried a resonance nobody had to manufacture. The concert took place on the anniversary of the day Woody Guthrie died — October 3, 1967 — eighty-six years after he wrote “This Land Is Your Land.” As historian Heather Cox Richardson wrote in her October 3 edition of Letters from an American, the festival brought “rock, alternative, and hip hop royalty” together “to remind Americans of their agency to change the future and reclaim American democracy.”

The statement extended past the stage. Festivalgoers arrived in T-shirts carrying their own messages, the AP reported: “Immigrants Make America Great.” “No Kings.” “No one is illegal on stolen land.” “Bring on the Matriarchy.”

The idea for the day had been seeded in May. Springsteen announced the festival from the stage at Nationals Park in Washington on May 27, during the closing night of his Land of Hope and Dreams tour, where Morello had joined the band nightly for nearly half of the 27-song set. “Tom Morello and I will be back again here in D.C. on Oct. 3 for another night of music and resistance,” Springsteen said from the Nationals Park stage that night. “We encourage you to come out and make a goddamned ruckus with us,” he added. Morello had earlier hosted Springsteen for the first live performance of “Streets of Minneapolis” at a benefit concert in Minneapolis held for two citizens slain by ICE personnel.

What Saturday made clear is that this was not a tour date with a theme. It was a one-day institution built around a single conviction — the one Morello had been stating all along, and the one Springsteen sang all night: that power belongs to the people in the room, the ones who show up, register, vote and refuse to be quiet about it. A sold-out pavilion, a free stream beamed to the world, a Freedom Village full of clipboards, and a finale that handed Woody Guthrie’s chorus to a sold-out pavilion full of voices. “Let them hear you in Washington,” Springsteen said. On Saturday, in Columbia, Maryland, you couldn’t help but.

For everything else that happened Saturday, our Saturday wrap has the full day’s scoreboard.